TO THE EDITOR.
Dear Sir: —
If agreeable kindly use the
following matter in an early issue.
Sincerely yours,
GEO. FRS. DOW,
Secretary of
The Topsfield Historical Society.
TOPSFIELD ACADEMY REUNION.
Topsfield, Mass., July 7, 1897. The
teachers and students of the Topsfield
Academy are to have a reunion at the old
building on Thursday, August 12, 1897, it
being the 70th anniversary of its founda-
tion. The school was a famous institu-
tion in its day being presided over by such
instructors as Benjamin Greenleaf of
arithmetic fame ; Edwin D. Sanborn for
many years professor at Dartmouth Col-
lege ; Asa F owler afterwards judge of the
supreme court of N. H., and speaker of
the N. H. house of representatives. He
was a law partner of President Franklin
Peirce and later of Senator Wm. E.
Chandler. Other principals were Edward
F. Slafter, clergyman, historian and liter-
ateur now living in Boston and Asa Far-
well for many years principal of Abbot
Academy, Andover.
The Topsfield Academy was one of the
earliest of those famous institutions of
learning which have now largely given
place to the high school. Solomon Wildes
proprietor of Wildes Hotel on Elm Street
Boston renowned in coaching days was
one of its founders. Another, was Billy
Emerson the most extensive trader Essex
county has ever seen, who in journeying
to Canada could stop in his own hotel
every night while on the way. Gen. Na-
thaniel Perley, Dr. Nehemiah Cleaveland,
Dr. Jeremiah Stone and many others are
named in the act of incorporation.
The Topsfield Historical Society and
the resident students have united in or-
ganizing the reunion. George W. Ather-
ton, president of the Pennsylvania State
College will deliver the oration and M.
V. B. Perley of Ipswich is to give the his-
torical address, George Conant of Pasa-
dena, Cal., a former principal will read
the poem, John W. Perkins, superintend-
ent of Salem Schools will preside over
the literary exercises.
The occasion promises a large attend-
ance, a pilgrimage from many different
states.
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2015
https://archive.org/details/historicalcollec04unse
DR. ROYAL A. MERRIAM.
THE
HISTORICAL
COLLECTIONS
OF THE
TOPSFIELD HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
VOL. IV.
1898.
TOPSFIELD, MASS. :
Published by the Society.
1898.
REPORT OF THE SECRETARY.
In presenting to the society my fourth annual report, I
have pleasure in being able to chronicle a continued increase
in the membership, and a growing prestige among kindred
societies scattered about the county, and in fact the state
and nation. The year just closed has added thirty-seven
members to our rolls — members who reside in thirteen
different states.
We have lost two members by death, Mrs. Eunice Perley
of East Boxford, and Mrs. Mary A. Colburn of Wellesley
Hills, while four have resigned their affiliation.
Eight meetings of the society have been held during the
past year and papers have been read by Sidney Perley, Esq.,
of Salem, Miss Marietta Clark, Benj. J. Balch, Mrs. George
Warren Towne, the president and your secretary.
The society now has a total active membership of 271,
resident in twenty different states. Every New England
state pays its tribute. We have three members on the
Pacific coast and one in the southern state of Alabama. An
effort will be made during the coming year to largely in-
crease our rolls and proportionately our income.
One event during the past twelve months comes to the
fore with much prominence — the highly successful field
meeting held on July 27th, the Essex Institute of Salem,
uniting with us in extending a cordial invitation to the thir-
teen Historical societies in the county, to be represented at
the gathering, and every one without exception sent its del-
egation, large or small. Methuen on the extreme northwest
and Lynn on the southeast sent parties of enthusiastic anti-
quarians. A stranger within our gates, a Westerner visiting
New England’s shrines for the first time, left “Cold Roast
(v)
VI
REPORT OF THE SECRETARY.
Beef Boston,” or as we affectionately term it, Nahant, at the
seasonable hour of five o’clock in the morning, and after
spending the day in our midst told the reporter of a great
metropolitan newspaper, that he had known the ideal New
England country village only by what he had read and seen
in picture, but at first glance he recognized in Topsfield a
most delightful type. He had travelled the wide world over
and never seen any spot more picturesquely rural than this
same Topsfield of ours. At the public exercises in the
afternoon the Town Hall was filled by an interested audience
that heard eloquent speakers of national reputation. The
Hon. Robert S. Rantoul, president of the Essex Institute;
Prof. Edward S. Morse, administrative head of the Peabody
Academy of Science ; Gen. Francis H. Appleton of the Gov-
ernor’s staff ; Mrs. Alice Freeman Palmer, ex-president of
Wellesley College and an educator of national reputation;
Rev. D. O. Mears of Albany, N. Y., the orator; Hon. Alden
P. White of Salem; John W. Hutchinson, the famous singer
of emancipation and other speakers of almost equal note,
contributed to the unqualified success of an occasion that
ever will remain a marked day in the history of our society.
To unite the historical societies of the county at one com-
mon field meeting was something unknown in county annals.
It remained for the Topsfield Historical Society to achieve
this event and years to come will feel the good fellowship
and influence of that July day.
But this society must not rest upon its oars and drift with
the tide, for in the rapidly approaching year, 1900, must be
celebrated with all pomp and honor possible, the 250th
anniversary of our birth as a town, the 28th in order on the
list of settlements incorporated in the Massachusetts Bay
colony.
We should all take a wholesome pride in our honorable
record as a town and make every effort to crown the anni-
versary of our natal day with a round of becoming festivi-
ties. It is perhaps none too soon to discuss at the annual
town meeting the question of “ways and means,” and even
the election of a committee having power to outline the ex-
ercises of the day and submit estimates of cost at a future
meeting. He who goes forewarned goes armed in all points.
REPORT OF THE SECRETARY.
VII
A consideration of the matter in ample season may prevent
mistakes of both omission and commission.
One other matter I would keep ever before your eyes — the
eventual ownership by the society of a permanent home, a
resting place in some ancient building, where our collection
of historical objects can be housed and feel a natural growth,
and where associations with the shadowy past may sharpen
our appetites for things historical.
Such a movement must be made in the not distant future.
It only needs the sinewy arm to guide the plow, for neces-
sary funds will be forthcoming with the successful launch-
ing of the project.
Shall we not unite in bringing the question to a successful
solution before the dawn of our anniversary year, the year
when objects of historical interest will be most in repute?
Let a continuation of the good fellowship and earnest
work of the past be hoped for in the future. Let our
society be the spot where all creeds and stations can meet
upon common ground, bound by a common tie of venera-
tion,— a research into the storied past.
Respectfully submitted,
George Francis Dow.
TREASURER’S REPORT.
Topsfield, Jan. 2, 1899.
The treasurer would submit the following report of re-
ceipts and expenditures for the year ending Jan. 2, 1899.
RECEIPTS.
Balance on hand Jan. 1, 1898, $77-90
Historical Collections sold, 2.50
Binding volumes, 1.75
Annual dues, 97-5°
$179.65
PAYMENTS.
Printing,
$42.84
Engraving,
1 .40
Binding,
11.44
Paper stock,
10.68
Postage, express, etc.
22.5 1
Field day expenses,
21.89
$1 IO.76
Balance on hand Jan. 2, 1899, $68.89
Respectfully submitted,
George Francis Dow.
(viii)
NECROLOGY.
Mary A. (Blanchard) Colburn was born in Shrews-
bury, Vermont, June 28, 1824, and died at her younger
son’s home in Wellesley Hills, Mass., Dec. 26, 1897. She
was the daughter of Stephen and Rebecca (Lake) Blanchard.
On the twenty-fifth of November, 1846, she was married in
Winchendon, Mass., to John Colburn, of Leominster. He
died in Wellesley Hills, Dec. 1 5, 1886. Both are buried in the
family lot at Leominster, Mass.
Four children were born to them; the eldest died in in-
fancy; John Henry, who married Helen T. Bliss of New
Bedford and lives in Boston ; Mary Eleanor, who married
Thomas Guthrie. He was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and
died in Boston, March 12, 1897; Frank Martin, who married
Ida E. Childs of Roxbury. She died Nov. 26, 1894.
Mrs. Colburn joined the Topsfield Historical Society in
1895. She was until within a few weeks of her death, an ac-
tive, energetic woman, and maintained a lively interest in
current events at large, as well as in the minute details of
her daily life, the care of her son’s motherless children, and
the domestic duties which she personally supervised. She
was the true type of a New England woman of the old school.
Her unselfish life and beautiful character will be a pre-
cious memory to a large circle of friends, and to the children
and grandchildren who survive her.
Eunice Perley, died at Boxford Sept 4, 1898, at the
age of seventy-three. She was daughter of Thomas and
Lydia (Guilford) Peabody, and was born in Topsfield Nov.
19, 1824. She married Humphrey Perley of Ipswich Sept.
16, 1844; and lived in Topsfield and Boxford. Her life was
uneventful, and was wholly devoted to her family. Three
sons, Elbridge Perley and Humphrey Perley, Jr., both of
Boxford, and Sidney Perley of Salem, and one daughter,
Mrs. Emma J. Chase of North Andover were born of this
union.
aBBanrananssB
HISTORY
OF
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY
BY
M. V. B. PERLEY.
THE LITERARY EXERCISES AT THE REUNION OF
THE TEACHERS AND STUDENTS OF THE
ACADEMY, HELD AUG. 12, 1897.
EDITED BY
GEORGE FRANCIS DOW.
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
HISTORY OF THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
1828-1860.
INTRODUCTION.
To the Topsfield Historical Society was due the inception
of the reunion of the teachers and students of the old Topsfield
Academy, but to the enthusiastic cooperation of the students of
“auld lang syne,” was largely due, the instant success of the re-
union, held on an August day, when Nature’s brightest smiles
strove to make the day one of dearest memory.
The morning trains brought many from a distance, and
every winding road paid its tribute as the noon hour drew near.
Lunch was served in the Town Hall, by resident students of the
Academy, and an informal reception followed, with many happy
renewals of old acquaintance ; men and women who had not seen
each other for fifty years or more, recalled the bygone days, and
many were the effecting scenes and incidents. As the hour for the
literary exercises drew near, a large number of students grouped
themselves about the entrance to the Hall, and were photo-
graphed, in memory of the day. The Hall presented a beautiful
picture, as flowers were abundantly used in decoration, the speak-
ers platform being completely hidden by masses of ferns, sweet
peas, and other flowers, and when the chairman, Jefferson K.
Cole, of Peabody, called the assemblage to order, he faced
an audience that taxed its seating capacity. Nearly three hun-
dred of those present attended the old Academy at some time in
its history. Rev. Alfred Noon, of Boston, offered prayer, and
was followed by Mr. Cole, who delivered an address of welcome,
in which he recalled many scenes and incidents of Academy
(0
2
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
days. Prof. John W. Perkins, of Salem, delivered the oration.
His topic was the personal and local side of education. This
address was replete with timely thoughts, and was frequently
applauded. Prof. George Conant, of Pasadena, California, who
was principal of the Academy in 1852, read an original poem.
This was followed by the ode, written by Eugene Tappan,
Esq., of Boston. Mr. Nathan Dane Dodge, of Newbury -
port, conducted the singing. Mr. M. V. B. Perley, of Ipswich,
then delivered the historical address, an able record of the glories
of the old Academy, that was greatly appreciated. A reminis-
cent address, by Rev. George L. Gleason, of Haverhill, carried
memory back to “the days that used to be.” Brief addresses
followed from Hon. Israel W. Andrews, of Danvers ; Prof.
George Conant, who asked those present who were instructed
by him, in 1852, to rise in their seats, and the surprising num-
ber, twenty-eight, responded. Rev. Alfred Noon, John W.
Porter, Esq., of Danvers, and Eugene Tappan, Esq., spoke
briefly. The exercises concluded by singing a hymn to the tune
of “Auld Lang Syne,” Rev. Francis A. Poole, pastor of the
Congregational Church, of Topsfield, pronouncing the benedic-
tion. Seated on the platform, with the speakers, was Deacon
John J. Gould, of Ipswich, who attended the Academy in 1830.
The following committee, Justin Allen, M. D., Charles J.
Peabody, Benjamin J. Balch, Joseph B. Poor, Henry W. Lake,
Albert M. Dodge, Mrs. Sarah K. (Leach) Woodbury, Mrs.
Ellen A. (Hood) Welch, Mrs. Catharine (Gould) Perkins, and
George Francis Dow, members of the Topsfield Historical
Society, or resident students of the Academy, arranged and
carried to a successful conclusion the first, and probably the last,
reunion of the teachers and scholars of the Topsfield Academy.
CHAPTER I.
THE TOWN OF TOPSFIELD AND THE INCORPORATORS
OF THE ACADEMY.
Every mortal has his birth, his life, and his death, or as we
are taught, his change of life, and after that the judgment;
so, many human institutions, particularly those of mental and
moral design, have their birth and life, and change in the
sphere and manner of their activity, and after that a judg-
ment.
Topsfield Academy is a case in point; she has pursued
the common path, as if impelled by a common trolley. The
day of her birth was one of joy throughout the grand old
borough ; her life was a gem, every facet of which reflected
its own peculiar attractive color and brilliancy and beauty ;
her changed activity now lives hidden in a thousand measures
of meal, and we, today, filial in our love and devotion, with
breadth of view, cognizant of results, and just in our estimate
(as she ever taught us), review her life and accord to her
her proper meed of praise.
The birth of this institution was during an academical
period. The spirit of education was rife , the time was op-
portune. From 1628 at Salem, almost to 1828 at Topsfield,
when this Academy was instituted; from 1634 at Ipswich,
of which town Topsfield was, eighteen years, a part; from
1650, the date of Topsfield’s incorporation ; from King Phil-
lip of Mt. Hope to King George III of England, even to
1815, when closed the war that wrung from the mother
country the last prerogatives of our nationality, the history
of this people would be a well-written history of the wars.
Indeed, it was the first opportunity, when the people, free
in their nationality, big with the possibilities of free institu-
tions, and persuaded of the value of moral culture and
(3)
4
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
practical learning as a corner-stone of an enduring republic,
could hopefully, earnestly and practically, pursue and culti-
vate the arts of peace.
At this time the spirit of education was rife — it brooded
with propitious wing over the entire country. Time fails
me to tell you of the Gideons, the Davids, and the Samuels,
who, through an inspiring faith, wrought righteousness,
escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made
strong, waxed valiant in fight, and turned to flight the
armies of the aliens. Many of these men were college-
bred ; they were: of high social culture, and they realized, as
we did not, and as we cannot even now, the sentiment of the
legend raised for years over the rostrum of the Academy :
“ Knowledge is Power.” They instituted public and private
schools as soon as there were pupils to attend them. From
that early day, during all the trying vicissitudes of ancestral
life, the week-day when the school door was not open to the
inquiring student has no date. Through all those years,
school privileges abounded, as opportunities were possible,
and means could be afforded. The public school was emi-
nently practical, and the private school was no less practical
in meeting a higher demand. There was no conflict, each
rejoiced in the growth of the other, and each maintained
her relative ratio of numbers. Gov. Dummer early scented
the sweet aroma of this century plant, and endowed his
academy in 1763; Phillips followed at Andover in 1780.
A radical change in the common system was inaugurated
about 1800, towns being divided into school districts, pru-
dential committees chosen, and school work and government
made comparatively definite and positive. From 1806 to
1820, Mr. Felt, the historian, counted no less than seventy-
five advertisements of private schools.
At the time of the institution of this Academy, this cen-
tury plant, so cherished and cultivated by our ancestors, and
so hopeful in its fruition, was about to spread its broad pet-
als and distill upon the balmy air the richness of its treasured
sweetness. The common school, so recently established on
its new vantage ground, was now to be supplemented by
a permanent higher grade of moral and educational training
within the means of the common people, and a permanent
THE TOWN OF TOPSFIELD.
5
connecting-link between the common school and the college
was to be established.
Nine academies in our immediate vicinity were instituted
in thirteen years. “The Trustees of Merrimack Academy”
at Groveland were incorporated Feb. 7, 1822 ; “The Visitors
of the Theological Institution in Phillips Academy in Ando-
ver,” Jan. 1 7, 1824; “The Proprietors of Haverhill Academy,”
Jan. 28, 1828; “The Proprietors of Ipswich Academy,” Feb.
28, 1828 ; “The Proprietors of Topsfield Academy,” June 12,
1828; “The Trustees of Abbot Female Academy,” Andover,
Feb. 26, 1829; “The Proprietors of Boxford Academy,”
March 4, 1831; “Lynn Academy in the Town of Lynn,”
March 13, 1832; “Beverly Academy,” Feb. 7, 1835.
Topsfield was part and parcel of that ancestral avalanche
of educational force. She had her Winthrop who left his
name to a commanding elevation in the northern part of the
town, and who, in 1642, sold for £2^0, 300 acres of land
“situate in the hamlett, village or place called Toppesfeild*
in the parish of Ipswich” ; she had her Bradstreets, Perkins,
and Peabodys ; her Cleavelands, Merriams, and Cummings;
her Goulds, Balches, and Howletts; her Hoods, Townes,
and Averills ; her Clarks, Lamsons, and Kimballs ; a host of
worthies. She appreciated the golden opportunity and re-
joiced, as an Elisha, in the cast mantle of the fathers.
But besides these common inheritances, she had two others
peculiarly her own. She was centrally located and “beauti-
ful for situation.”
The Newburyport Turnpike had contributed to the former
of these for twenty-five years, telling daily the news and
business of cities south and north The crack of the coach-
man’s whip and the chuck of heavy-laden dray-wheels had
been heard upon the north-west and west, for many years.
*This is the earliest known record of the name as applied to this ter-
ritory. The phrase here quoted is found in a deed, dated March 20,
1642, and given by John Winthrop, Gent., of New England, then resid-
ing in London, England, to Edward Parks, citizen and merchant-taylor
of London, England. The deed conveyed land whose south-east bound
was six feet from the spring in the present northern boundary of Tops-
field ; whose north-west was near the old gate leading to the residence
of the late Emerson Howe; whose north-east was probably just east of
the Corp. John Foster estate.
6
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
Thrqe stages passed daily between Boston, Salem and New-
buryport, and one between Salem and Haverhill, and three
mails were each day opened. This village was in daily touch
with every part of the county. Here was the central relay
of horses. Here were brought merchandise and passengers,
and political and literary conventions. Here convened the
famous Essex Junto, Oct. 6, 1808, whose voice national in its
influence, waked the echoes of the gilded dome and vibrat-
ed along the corridors of the White House ; here followed the
great anti -junto, Feb. 20, 1809; here the Essex County Ag-
ricultural Society held its first exhibit, Oct. 5, 1820; here
was the great Lyceum convention, Dec. 30, 1829, backed by
such men as Edward Everett, Daniel Webster, and Horace
Mann ; here the Essex County Natural History Society or-
ganized, April 16, 1834; and here also the Essex County
Teachers’ Association had its birth. The central location
was an advantage of expanding value, and demanded stren-
uous exertions to be further utilized.
[Of the Lyceum convention, Hon. Daniel Appleton White
wrote : It was “a large concourse of gentlemen of influence.
I do not remember ever to have witnessed a more interesting
and enlightened assembly. Very animated, earnest, and
protracted debates took place. By a full but close vote,”
the following resolutions were adopted : — Resolved, that it
is desirable to establish a general lyceum for Essex County
— that previous to such formation, local lyceums should be
established in the several towns — that a committee be ap-
pointed by this meeting to prepare a circular letter and ad-
dress it to suitable persons in each town in the county — to
call a general meeting to adopt a constitution — to draft a
form of constitution. Mr. Vose was placed on the commit-
tee, and the meeting for adopting a constitution was called
at Ipswich Hotel, at 10 o’clock, on March 17, 1830. The
object of the lyceum was “the improvement of its members
in useful knowledge and the advancement of popular educa-
tion, by reading, conversation, discussions, dissertations, il-
lustrating the sciences, or other exercises, which shall be
thought expedient ; and as it is found convenient will be
procured a cabinet consisting of books, apparatus for illus-
trating the sciences, plants, minerals, and other natural or
MISS FLOYD’S ACADEMY.
7
artificial productions.” The title used by the committee was
Confederation, or Convention, of Lyceums. Topsfield had
another meeting Jan. 18, 1830. — Essex Hist . Coll ., vol. p,
part 2 , p . 50, tf/zz/ vol . /<?, p. 2gj.~\
Her “beauty for situation” had been long recognized ; her
rural quiet and social amenities long attested ; her village
homes and farm villas indicated persistent diligence, a learned
intelligence and stored wealth ; the lake and river were an
added charm to her landscape, and invited to aquatic sports ;
her hills afforded a great variety and extent of scenic beauty
of land and ocean. Not, however, that she so far excelled
her sisters; but that these natural gifts, each enhancing the
value of the other, made her the first choice of towns for
academic life.
Topsfield was a pioneer in establishing the new system of
schools. “Miss Floyd’s Academy” was located here as early
as 1819*. Preceding this or succeeding it, or both and the
while, was Mrs. A. P. Curtis and Lydia R. Ward’s Academy.
Mrs. Curtis’ school is mentioned as late as 1827. The ses-
sions of Miss Floyd’s Academy were held at Dr. Nehemiah
Cleaveland’s house, and it may be that a knowledge of her
success placed the Doctor among the foremost advocates of
a public academy.
The original document, the initial formal action, in relation
to this school, reads as follows: —
“Our country has already risen to a high rank in civiliza-
tion and mental culture ; and the present period is distin-
guished for the rapid improvement in almost every useful art
*We have been shown, by Mrs. N. Rawson Underhill, of Ipswich, a
manuscript book whose title page reads thus: — “Miscellaneous Exer-
cises on Composition by Lucy Martin of Salem, at Miss Curtis and Miss
Floyd’s school, Salem, June 12, 1816.” The latest date in the book is
July 18, 1819.
Abigail Floyd.
Informs her friends and the public, that she will open a SCHOOL on
the first Monday in April, in the chamber over Mr. Stearns’ store, Essex
Street, formerly occupied by Mr. Blydon for that purpose, where she
will teach Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, English Grammar, Rhetoric,
Composition and Needle-Work Also an intermediate School from ir
to 1 o’clock. — Salem Gazette , Mar. 17, 1809.
8
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
and science. We the undersigned fully believing that the
town of Topsfield is very favorably located for an Academy ,
and desirous to keep pace with the country, while we secure
to ourselves and posterity the means of acquiring useful
knowledge, agree to pay the sum or sums annexed to our
respective names, for the purpose of erecting a building or
buildings suitable for an academy in said town, the site to be
hereafter selected by the promoters of the aforesaid object
and whoever may have the munificence to endow the institu-
tion, it is our most cordial wish, and design, that it thall bear
His name forever , with the privilege of appointing, while
living, all the Trustees, of which body He himself shall be
the President.
Topsfield, May 8 day 1827.
Jeremiah Stone
$50
pd. $25
Thomas Emerson
100
Nathl. Perley
25
Frederick Perley
25
Joel Lake
20
Jerry White
10
Corneleus Bradstreet
50
paid
Edward Hood
25
Isaac Killam
50
Moses Wright
20
John Sawyer
20
John Wright
20
Benjamin C. Perkins
25
paid
John Lamson
40
H 99
This paper seems to have been intended as a suggestion,
but their active purpose could not wait for respondents to
grow, and the following action matured in the next Septem-
ber : —
“We the subscribers do hereby covenant and agree together,
and do hereby severally promise to pay the sums set to our
respective names to be appropriated to the sole purpose of
procuring a proper site and erecting thereon, a suitable build-
ing for the exclusive purpose of keeping such high school
or schools therein, of either or of both sexes, as shall from
time to time be agreed upon by the proprietors or by those
THE SUBSCRIPTION PAPER.
9
to whom the management of the same shall be entrusted ;
and we do hereby severally promise to pay said sums at such
times and in such proportions as shall be required by any com-
mittee duly authorized to receive the same, and it is hereby
agreed that in all proceedings hereafter to be had in the
premises, each subscriber shall be entitled to one *vote for
every twenty dollars by him or her subscribed, provided
however, that no person shall give more than ten votes in his
or her own right, To the prompt and faithful perform-
ance of all that is above written we do hereby jointly and
severally bind ourselves and our respective heirs.
Witness our hands this sixth day of September 1827.
William Munday
$100
Paid
Billy Emerson
100
4 4
John Rea Jr
100
44
N. Cleaveland
100
44
Frederic J. Merriam
100
44
Moses Wildes
100
4 4
Jacob Towne Jun
100
4 4
Samuel Gould
100
4 4
R. Merriam
100
44
Wm. N. Cleaveland
50
4 4
Solomon Wildes
100
4 4
Gilbert Brownell
100
44
Ephm Wildes
100
44
Sam’l Hood
50
44
Thos. Emerson
100
44
Nathl. Perley
25
44
Frederick Perley
25
4 4
Joel Lake
20
44
John Dwinell
100
44
Isaac Killam
50
44
Moses Wright
20
44
John Sawyer
25
44
Jeremiah Stone
25
44
Edward Hood
25
John Lamson
40
44
R. G. Dennis
25
44 ”
The building was begun in the fall of that year, but a se-
IO
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
vere cold coming on in October (when Jack Frost through
out the country placed an embargo on unharvested pota-
toes and confiscated thousands of bushels), the lumber was
piled till the next year. The structure was 45 by 36 feet on
the ground, two stories high, was covered by a hip-roof,
which was surmounted by a belfry in the center, whose bell
one of the worthy instructors used to say was toned to the
key of P. Each story contained a large school-room with
ante-room and stairway. A writer, in the Salem Gazette ,
about that time records: “The building is perfectly and
commodiously finished, in two departments, upper and low-
er, with blinds to the whole house. It is on an elevated, and
most beautiful spot, a little retired from the public road.”
The land was purchased of Dr. Nehemiah Cleaveland,
3 acres and 59 rods, for $637.50, and was conveyed by deed
dated Oct. 23, 1828. An entrance upon the land was near
the blacksmith-shop, in low ground, it is said, and unfitted
for the purposes of a school. The present entrance on
Main Street was purchased of John Rea, Jr., guardian of
Harriet Josephine Emerson, minor daughter of Joseph Em-
erson (and late the wife of Charles H Holmes, Esq., long
known as the tallest man in the county), 12.7 square rods,
for $17, and was conveyed by deed dated June 10, 1829.
The following names appear in the act of incorporation :
Nehemiah Cleaveland, who was a leading physician and in
practice here many years ; Samuel Hood, who was a car-
penter by trade, a house-wright and master builder. He
was master-carpenter on the Franklin Building, Salem, and
on other noted structures, — and was chairman of the Acad-
emy building-committee, and the contractor and builder of
it; Billy Emerson, who was the most extensive general tra-
der Essex County ever had, and of whom it is said, he
could journey to Canada (as he used to) and stop at his
own hotel every night; Jacob Towne, Jr., who was town-
clerk for twenty years ; Isaac Killam, who was a captain in
the militia and an independent farmer; Moses Wildes, who
was a blacksmith and counted among the wealthy citizens ;
Samuel Gould, who was a grocer, and who exercised many
town offices; Frederick J. Merriam, who was extensively
engaged in both trading and farming, (is styled “drover,” in
THE INCORPORATION OF THE ACADEMY. I I
the Salem Gazette , April 25, 1835); John Rea, Jr., who
kept a hotel where Mr. John Bailey’s residence now is, who
was later of Portsmouth, N. H., and afterwards a farmer in
New Brunswick; William N. Cleaveland, who was some-
time a manufacturer at “The Mills,” Byfield, and later a
wealthy farmer in Boxford ; Jeremiah Stone, M. D., who
was a skillful physician, located in town about eight years,
and afterward removed his practice to Provincetown, where
he died ; Moses Wright, who was a captain in the militia,
and, it is believed a boot-manufacturer in Topsfield and in
Georgetown where he later made his home; Edward Hood,
who, in modern phrase, was a cattle-broker, and conducted a
large business; Nathaniel Perley, who was a General in the
militia, and kept a country store, till he sold to Benjamin
Perley Adams, and removed to Danvers. The property is
now owned and occupied by Joseph Bailey Poor, a general
merchant. The act of incorporation further states that
the above named persons together with such other per-
sons as now are, or may hereafter be associated with them
and their successors * * * * shall be a corporation by the
name of the “Proprietors of Topsfield Academy;” that by
that name the institution “may sue and be sued ;” may have a
common seal, and may purchase and hold any real and per-
sonal estate not exceeding $30,000 in value, and may at any
legal meeting make and establish rules, orders and by-laws
for the well ordering and governing the affairs of said cor-
poration provided the same are not repugnant to the laws
of the Commonwealth, and may annex penalties for the
breach of any such rules, orders or by-laws, and the said
corporation is hereby vested with all the powers necessary
for carrying into effect the purposes of this act; and further
that the property of said corporation shall be divided
into shares, and the proprietors of said shares, at any legal
meeting may make assessments upon the shares for the use
of said corporation and the same collect, in such way and
manner as may be agreed upon, and all votes shall be deter-
mined by a majority of the voters present, counting one
vote to each share provided no one member, in his own
right shall have more than ten votes, and the share of any
proprietor who shall be delinquent in paying any assessment
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
may be sold at auction for the payment thereof, by the per-
son appointed to collect the same, giving due notice of the
time and place, and after paying the assessment and all the
necessary incidental charges, the overplus money, if any,
arising from the sale, shall be paid to the delinquent pro-
prietor, and the shares shall be deemed personal estate and
the proprietors may establish the manner of transferring the
same ; also, that said corporation may appoint all necessary
officers and with such authority as by their by-laws they may
establish for the due management of its affairs and the reg-
ulation of the school; and that the said Jacob Towne Jr.,
may call the first meeting and appoint the time and place
thereof : provided nevertheless , that nothing in this act shall
be so construed as to prevent the Legislature from altering
or repealing it at any time hereafter.
The term incorporators as used above embraces such per-
sons as appeared by name in the act of incorporation, and
they do not differ otherwise from the proprietors. The fol-
lowing is a complete list of the first owners of the institu-
tion, showing their respective interests or number of shares.
It is noticed that the certificates were not cashed till a year
or two after the school had its birth. All the certificates
are dated Oct. 20, 1829, except the last three which are
dated Sept. 7, 1830.
3.
4-
6.
7-
8.
9-
o.
William Munday,
No.
1 to 5.
Billy Emerson,
No.
6
to
10.
Samuel Rea, Portsmouth, N.
H. (filled out and signed but
not cut from stock book)
No.
1 1
to
IS-
Moses Wildes,
No.
16
to
20.
Jacob Towne, Jr.,
No.
2 1
to
25-
Frederick J. Merriam, as Rea’s
(No. 3) but indorsed : Trans-
ferred to Benj. Adams on
March 29, 1830, for $15.00.
Marked “cancelled,”
No.
26
to
30.
Nehemiah Cleaveland,
No.
3i
to
35-
Samuel Gould,
No.
36
to
40.
Royal Augustus Merriam,
No.
4i
to
45-
Solomon Wildes, Boston, ’
No.
46
to
50.
REV. MOSES PARSONS STICKNEY.
THE SHARE HOLDERS.
13
I I.
I 2.
13-
14-
15-
1 6.
1 7-
18.
19-
20.
Gilbert Brownell, Boston, No. 51 to 55.
Thomas Emerson, No. 56 to 60.
John Dwinell, No. 61 to 65.
Est. of Col. Ephraim Wildes, No. 66 to 70.
Joel Lake, No. 71.
Moses Wright, No. 72.
John Lamson, No. 73 & 74.
Wm. N. Cleaveland, trans-
ferred Sept. 4, 1830, to
Rev. James F. McEwen, No. 75, 76,
Cornelius B. Bradstreet, No. 77, 78,
Samuel Hood, certificate
cut out and gummed in
again, and transferred to
Rev. James F. McEwen,
of 79.
of 79.
Sept. 4, 1830, for $5.00,
No. 80, 81, l of 84,
21.
Edward Hood,
No. 82, } of 84.
22.
Rev. Rodney G. Dennis,
No. 83, 1 of 84.
23-
Nathaniel Perley,
No. 85, \ of 89.
24.
Frederick Perley,
No. 86, ] of 89.
25-
John Sawyer,
No. 87, \ of 89.
26.
Benj. C. Perkins,
No. 88, i of 89.
27.
Isaac Killam,
No. 90, 91, J of 92.
28.
Jeremiah Stone,
No. 93, 94, l of 92.
29.
Samuel Bradstreet,
No. 95 to 99.
30.
John Wright,
No. 100.
Benjamin Adams transferred shares No. 26 to 30 to Still-
man Stone, under date April 3, 1830, for $25. They are
marked “cancelled”.
Wm. N. Cleaveland transferred shares No. 75, 76, \ of 79,
under date Sept. 4, 1830, to Rev. James F. McEwen.
The stock-book shows twelve certificates signed in blank
by N. Cleaveland, President.
Jacob Towne, Jr., called the first meeting, of the proprie-
tors and was treasurer till 1832, when Dr. Royal A. Merriam
was chosen. Dr. Jeremiah Stone was the first secretary and
Rev. James F. McEwen succeeded him. Nehemiah Cleveland,
Royal Augustus Merriam, Jeremiah Stone, Samuel Gould,
Solomon Wildes, John Lamson, John Rea, William Munday
and William N. Cleaveland were the first standing committee.
14
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
The institution was dedicated May 7, 1828, Rev. Rodney
G. Dennis, pastor of the local church, delivering the ad-
dress, which was printed. That was also the first day of the
term. Mr. Dennis’ address was well written, well delivered,
and well received. The standing committee requested the
manuscript for publication. It was published by subscrip-
tion in a pamphlet of sixteen pages. Sylvester Cummings
took twenty copies; N. Cleaveland, Billy Emerson, Francis
Vose, Jeremiah Stone, Samuel Gould, ten each; Israel Rea,
Jr., and Susan Cummings, six each ; Joel Lake, William
Munday, William Gunnison, Benjamin C. Perkins, Hannah P.
Bradstreet, Samuel Hood, Jacob Towne, Jr., five each; W.
N. Cleaveland, Benjamin Kimball, four each; David Lake,
W. Conant, Thomas Balch, Cornelius B. Bradstreet, Na-
thaniel Perley, Moses Wright, Aaron Conant, John Wright,
Lydia B. Emerson, Joseph Batchelder, Isaac Killam, W. R.
Hubbard, Josiah Peabody, three each; eighteen others, two
each ; nineteen others, one each. The list of sixty-seven
names probably shows, other things being equal, the enthu-
siasm with which the new institution was received.
The occasion was a red-letter day in the town’s history. Mr.
Dennis had spoken the right word ; the school opened pros-
perously; the teachers were professionals; and the proprie-
tors were in earnest and sanguine of success.
One of Mr. Dennis’ opening sentences reads as follows:
“Your attention is, therefore, solicited, while the attempt is
made to offer some remarks, on the importance of connecting
piety with knowledge. By piety will be understood a devout
disposition of heart, accompanied by a course of life in cor-
respondance with the divine commands, and by knowledge ,
the improvement of the mind.”
Near the close he said : “This morning forms a new epoch
in the annals of literature, and may we not say of piety, in
this place. An Academy, in Topsfield, had, for many years
past been a subject of conversation; many sanguine wishes
had been expressed that there might be one, but never till
now has one been opened. May we not hail its commence-
ment, as a new occasion to the cause of learning, especially
in this place? And may we not cherish the hope, too, that
it will afford a fostering hand to that piety which as far ex-
THE OPENING ADDRESS.
15
cels mere human knowledge, as the unwithering glories of
Heaven excel the fading, perishing treasures of this life?
We congratulate its patrons on its establishment. The de-
sign does credit to your wisdom and public spirit, and the
accomplishment of it to your decision. The building which
you have erected is commodious and neatly finished. It
does honor to the superintendent and to the architect. The
spot on which it is located combines many excellences.
You have been no less judicious and successful in choosing
for instructors those in whom the public can put confidence,
both as to their literary qualifications and their uprightness
of moral character. May we not say, then, that this literary
seminary has been opened under auspicious circumstances?
Sustained by that wisdom, and public spirit and decision
which planned and created it; and in the care of so able in-
structors ; and in the near vicinity of so many populous
towns; being easy, too, of access ; and combining the ad-
vantages of salubrity of climate and beauty of surrounding
scenery, can we suppress the hope that it will flourish?
May the blessing of Almighty God rest upon it.”
CHAPTER II.
THE EARLY INSTRUCTORS, FRANCIS VOSE, EDWARD D.
SANBORN, MOSES P. STICKNEY, ASA FOWLER, ALFRED
W. PIKE, AND MISS ANNA SEARLE.
The first instructors were Francis Vose, A. M., principal,
and Miss Matilda Leavitt, preceptress. An advertisement of
the school informs us, that she was “a lady highly qualified
for the situation — the care of the ladies’ department.” Mrs.
J. R. Towne, of Evanston, 111., wrote, that Miss Ann Cofran
was Miss Leavitt’s successor, and left, she thought, when
Mr. Vose resigned. She says, “I was a student at the open-
ing of the Academy, and also during the Autumn of 1835,
under Mr. Pike, who left soon after that term.” The adver-
tisement continues, that the principal had “been for several
years past, engaged in the business of instruction”, and had
“fully established the character of an able, faithful and suc-
cessful teacher.”
Besides this recommendation, Prof. Vose had a reputation
of his own. He had been, in some way, associated with his
uncle Prof. John Vose, at Atkinson, N. H., the most distin-
guished teacher, says Dr. Geo. Cogswell, that Academy ever
had. He married his cousin, one of Prof. John Vose’s
daughters, and thus became more vitally connected with the
good name and work of his uncle. These things joined with
his good ability and aptness to teach, creeping out quietly
and widely into literary circles, made Prof. Francis Vose a
very promising man, as governor and instructor of the new
Academy.
The course of study, as in all academies, was arranged for
mental discipline, moral culture, and practical life. The ex-
ercises of the commencement, Aug. 10, 1830, consisting of
music, declamations, compositions and discussions, show that
the Academy enjoyed a high degree of prosperity. There
(16)
FRANCIS VOSE.
17
were twenty-one compositions, thirty-one declamations and
an original hymn. These are some of the subjects treated,
and the names of some of the writers and speakers : “Men
may live fools, but fools they cannot die” ; “Is public opinion
a just criterion of moral character”; “The only amaranthine
flower on earth is virtue” ; “The world is infectious, few bring
back at eve, immaculate, the manners of the morn”. Miss Har-
riet Josephine Emerson told of “The Aborigines of America,”
and John G. Hood gave “Some reasons, why the custom of
wearing mourning apparel should be discontinued”. T. P.
Munday declaimed of “Africa’s future Glory” ; George F.
Choate, of “Mount Sinai” ; J. G. Hood, of the “Cause of Mis-
sions” ; and C. Cummings, of “The Grave”. “The effect of
Juvenile Libraries”, was told by Moses K. Cross ; “The import-
ance of reading history”, by A. F. Richards ; “Love of Fame”,
by W. A. Peabody; “Lectures, a mode of instruction”, by J.
Peabody. There were discussions : “Does the King or peas-
ant enjoy most happiness”, by C. H. Roades and A. Gould ;
“Does the fear of law, or the loss of reputation, deter most from
crime”, by D. C. Gallup and E/Towne. There were these dec-
lamations : “Extirpation of the Indians”, by M. K. Cross;
“Talents”, by E. Batchelder ; “Influence of the higher classes of
society”, by P. Lovett ; “Love of Country”, by W. H. Lackey ;
“Slothfulness reproved”, by C. Treadwell; an extract by G.
F. Eveleth ; “Solace of Hope”, by M. B. Wildes; “Influence
of Charity”, by F. Cox; “Encouragements to Benevolence”,
by H. F. Putnam ; “Nations of New England,” by C Page ;
“Intrepidity of our Ancestors”, by J. B. Eveleth; “Pilgrim
Fathers”, by A. Bradstreet ; “Tomorrow”, by J. Rea ; “The
Prize”, by F. M. Lord; “The Cause of propagating the Gos-
pel should stand on its own claims”, by A. Gould; “Charac-
ter of the Philanthropist,” by A. T. Richards; “Right of suf-
frage”, by S. W. Bradstreet; “The instability of earthly
greatness”, by R. West; “Protection of the defenceless,” by
C. H. Rhoades; “Resistance of the Colonies encouraged”,
by J. D. Black; “Tears of Science”, by M. Wildes; “Obli-
gation of Americans”, by W. A. Peabody; “Intemperance”,
by J. Peabody; “Avarice in Government”, by E. Towne ;
“Claims of the Colonization Society”, by D. P. Gallup.
Besides these there were Latin and Greek declamations,
i8
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
and an original hymn by Miss Harriet Josephine Emerson,
which Rev. M. K. Cross says was very fine, far beyond her
years. D. Peabody, also, gave “a short, pertinent and elo-
quent address.”
At the commencement, of Aug. 9, 1831, there were fifty
assignments: vocal music, nineteen compositions, an original
poem by George Hood, two discussions, and twenty- six dec-
lamations— one Greek, one Latin, and two original.
Prof. Vose was a severe disciplinarian. He believed in the
letter of the law. Dr. Cogswell, when eighty-two years of
age [1890] related an instance in point. It was at Atkinson
Academy, at the time the Doctor’s youngest brother fitted
for college, about 1820, or perhaps a little later. Four young
men having completed their preparatory course for college
desired of Master Vose the usual recommendation to Dart-
mouth College. But the evening before leaving, in violation
of the school rules, they walked out with some of their female
companions and school-mates, and the recommendations were
withheld.
“What dire offense from friendly causes springs!
What mighty contests rise from trivial things!”
What lady indulging in reminiscence of academic life will
not pronounce the punishment extremely severe, and what
gentleman will not wonder what in contrast would be the
condign punishment of the pretty features, grace of manners,
and cultured intellect that Eve- like proffered the forbidden
fruit ! Sic volvere parcas.
It was, however, Prof. Vose’s business to rear a careful
man, an exact man, a just man, a liberty-loving and law-
abiding citizen, as well as a thinking man in scholastic walks.
Rev. Benjamin Howe, late of the Linebrook Church, who was
a student a year under Prof. Vose, esteemed him highly and
spoke of him as a dignified Christian gentleman, a pleasant
and thorough instructor, a ripe scholar.
The Academy at once became a literary center, and Prof.
Vose stood among the best educators in the county. It was
at this academy, and during Mr. Vose’s principalship, Dec. 4
and 5, 1830, that the Essex County Teacher s Association had
its birth. Mr. Vose was the first recording secretary and
continued in that office several years. There had been a pre-
FRANCIS VOSE.
19
liminary meeting, presumably here in the June preceding.
At this meeting in December a full bjoard of officers was cho-
sen and a constitution adopted. The annual and semi-annual
meetings, by a provision of the constitution, were to be held
here. The association was incorporated April 19, 1837, and
the names appearing in the act of incorporation are N. Cleave-
land of Byfield Academy (Dr. N. Cleaveland, of Topsfield,
died Feb. 26, 1837), Benjamin Greenleaf, the mathematician,
late principal of Bradford Academy, and George Titcomb,
“Master Titcomb,” as he was familiarly called, in Newbury-
port, where he first taught a private school and then the
“Brown High School.” The corporation could hold real and
personal property to the value of $20,000. The association
still lives, and as it has done in the past, so it is now doing,
a good work. Mr. Jefferson Kimball Cole, now many years
a teacher in Peabody, was several years its secretary.
At the same time the Academy was made a Publishers
Repository of New Books. In this it acquired a merited dis-
tinction. Here centered the learning of Eastern Essex Coun-
ty. About this pole revolved the interest of the reviewer, the
critic, the litterateur. It was a thoughtful and apt use of the
institution. Our nation then had no literature worthy the
name, when compared with the world of letters. Nor is the
fact startling! Colonial and provincial labors were works of
necessity; there had been no time for anything else. But
this, the period of which we write, permanently free from
martial strife, was opportune for civic expansion. The na-
tional lyceums movement of 1829 indicated the popular sen-
timent in regard to literature. This repository was to supple-
ment the labors of authors, by conning and pruning, by sug-
gestion and commendation, thus enlarging the sphere, the
influence and the value of their productions. The Academy
was certainly in honor.
Prof. Vose was taxed in Topsfield, 1829-30-31. A record
places him in Topsfield as late as the first of December, 1831.
He called a meeting of the Essex County Teachers’ Associa-
tion over the date: “Haverhill, Nov. 10, 1832.” The pro-
grammes of the commencements 1830 and 1831 are beyond a
doubt his. But Superintendent of Schools Albert L. Bart-
lett, of Haverhill, wrote, “Francis Vose was the Preceptor of
EDWIN DAVID SANBORN.
2 I
and a chirography seldom excelled by modern schools.
She died at the home of her son, Sept. 22, 1890, leaving two
sons, George Thomas and John Francis, her only children.
She was buried in the family lot in Pembroke, N. H.”
The dutiful son continues: “My great grandfather was
George Brackett, Esq., of Greenland, N. H. (born 1737, died
1825) who married Dec. 18, 1764, Ann March, daughter of
Dr. Clement March, of Greenland, who, it is understood, was
sometime consul at Madeira, and afterwards travelled in the
Orient, and died at the residence of the American consul at
Alexandria, Egypt; and whose nephew, Charles W. March,
was a writer of repute and private secretary to Daniel
Webster, when the latter was Secretary of State. George
Brackett left a fund of $5,000 to the Congregational church
in Greenland, N. H. $2,600 to the Hampton Academy, and
$2,000, to aid in founding Greenland Academy, which bears
his name. (George’s brother, ‘Old Dr. Brackett’ of Portsmouth
was celebrated for his medical knowledge and skill. My
great uncle Joshua Brackett was a Harvard graduate, and a
doctor of repute.”
Mr. Vose’s labors are still cherished in Topsfield. His
character left its impress upon citizen as well as scholar.
He was helpful in civic life and in church as well as in school
and among men of letters. He called his school together
Sunday morning, for religious instruction ; he instituted in
the church a Sunday school. He was an able, energetic, all-
round man ; his school was a gem that attracted by its bril-
liancy and worth.
EDWIN DAVID SANBORN.
Mr. Sanborn was Mr. Vose’s successor. His son Edwin
W. Sanborn thinks his father “taught at Topsfield during the
winter of 1831-2, and possibly nearly all that school year,
since he taught nine months of his senior year at college”.
The New Hampshire Press Association Annual, 1884-8, says
Prof. Sanborn taught, during his college course, 1828-32, in
Brentwood, N. H., twice in Concord, and in the academies of
Derry, N. H., and Topsfield, Mass., “continuing in the latter
place a year after his graduation.” Albeit the spring and
22
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
fall terms of 1832 of this academy opened May 2, and Sep-
tember 5, with Mr. Sanborn as principal.
The term beginning in May agreed in time with his last
term of his four years’ course at Dartmouth College, and
while he was passing his examination there. Moses Parsons
Stickney* officiated in the academy — “a brief interval”,
wrote Mr. Stickney, “of four or five weeks at longest.”
James F. McEwen, secretary of the proprietors, in an-
nouncing the Academy’s opening, spoke of Mr. Sanborn as “a
gentleman highly recommended for classical attainments
and talents as a teacher’’ — a recommendation fully sustained
by him in his long literary career.
In 1835, his Alma Mater elected him tutor for one year.
He was elected to the professorship of the Latin and the
Greek languages in the same year, and was professor of the
Latin language and literature from 1837 to 1859. Heresigned
and accepted his election to the chair of classical literature
and history in Washington University, which he occupied
from 1859 to 1863. The latter year he was again elected by
his Alma Mater — this time professor of Oratory and Belles-
lettres. He was librarian to the college from 1866 to 1874.
He became professor of Anglo-Saxon and English language
and literature, 1880. He received his master’s degree in
course; the University of Vermont added LL. D., 1859, and
Dartmouth the same, 1879. Mr. Sanborn was born May 14,
1808, and died Dec. 29, 1885. Miss Kate Sanborn, author-
*Mr. Stickney, as a Congregational clergyman, settled in Eastport,
Me. Afterwards he changed his views and was ordained in the Epis-
copal church, by Rt. Rev. Alexander V. Griswold, Feb. 25, 1841. He
passed from deacon to priesthood, and as such became rector of St.
Michael’s church in Marblehead in 1842; then of St. Peter’s in Cam-
bridgeport in 1847; then of Burlington College, N. J.; then assistant
minister in the church of the Advent, in Boston, in 1853, which he re-
signed in 1870. Thereafter he spent his winters in Boston and his
summers in the rural quiet of his home in Royalton, Vt. He was born
in Byfield, Mass., July 12, 1807, to Lt. Moses and Lois (Pike) Stickney,
and died Aug. 19, 1894. His children were Anna Elizabeth Gray, born
Aug. 12, 1843; William Brunswick Curry, born Jan. 16, 1845; Henry
Stover, born March 25, 1849; Agnes Mary Palmer, born Oct. 5, 1851:
and Cornelia Loring, born Aug. 14, 1861. Of these children only two
are living, William a lawyer in Bethel and Cornelia a music teacher in
Royalton, Vermont.
ASA FOWLER.
23
ess, New York, is his daughter, and he has two sons, lawyers
in New York and Boston.
ASA FOWLER.
Asa Fowler, A. B., succeeded Mr. Sanborn. He opened
the fall term of 1833, Wednesday, September 4th. He had
just taken his diploma at Dartmouth. Dr. Nathan Lord, Pres-
ident of the college, thus recommended him : “Mr. Fowler
stands in the foremost rank of scholars, is a man of very un-
exceptionable morality and of great industry and fidelity.”
He was principal here a single term.
Mr. Fowler was the ninth child in a family of eleven, and
was born in Pembroke, N. H., Feb. 23, 1811. He married
July 13, 1837, Mary Dole Cilley Knox of Epsom, who died
Oct. 11, 1882. At the age of fourteen he was stricken with
typhoid fever. Afterwards he attended Blanchard Academy,
then in charge of Hon. John Vose, where he fitted for a teach-
er in the common schools. He worked alternately on the
farm and in school. He studied Latin sixty weeks, and
entered the sophomore class in Dartmouth College, where
he graduated, in 1833, in the first third of his class. He was
never absent from, nor unprepared at, any recitation during
his 3 years’ course. After teaching here, he studied law with
James Sullivan, Pembroke, through the winter, and in March,
1834, entered the law-office of Hon. Charles H. Peaselee,
Concord, as student. He was admitted to the bar in 1837;
was elected clerk of the N. H. Senate in 1835, an<^ had six
successive elections; was U. S. commissioner of the district
of N. H., from 1846; was member of the N. H. House of
Representatives 1845-7-8, and chairman of the judiciary com-
mittee ; was an independent Democratic nominee for governor
in 1855; was associate justice of Supreme Court from Aug. 1,
1855 to Feb. 1, 1861, when he resigned; was delegate to the
famous Peace Congress, at Washington, 1861 ; was law-
partner of President Pierce from Sept., 1838, to April, 1845,
and later of Wm. E. Chandler. He has drafted more bills
for the legislature than any other man living or dead. In
Oct., 1888, his children, William P., of Boston, and Clara M.
Fowler presented to the city of Concord, N. H., a public li-
brary building as a memorial of their parent. The total cost
of the gift was $25,000.
24
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
ALFRED WASHINGTON PIKE.
Alfred W. Pike succeeded to the principalship Dec. 3,
1834. The public announcements of this school had hitherto
been made over the signature of the proprietors’ secretary ;
but now over the signature of Mr. Pike, as if he had hired
the property of the proprietors, and purposed to make the
school completely his own. He removed his family into town
in November, 1834, from Boston, where he had been keep-
ing a private school. He was taxed here in 1835.
Prof. Pike was a farmer’s son, born in Rowley, March 21,
1791, to Joseph and Lois (Tenney) Pike. He graduated at
Dartmouth in 1815, and adopted the teacher’s profession.
He taught classical schools and fitted young men for college,
in Newburyport, Framingham, Woburn, Rowley, Boston, and
brought to this school a ripe experience of more than twenty
years. Under his tuition the school might have flourished
long, but for a libel suit versus Beals and Green of the
Boston Post. The Standing Committee of the proprietors —
N. Cleaveland, Jacob Towne, Moses Wildes, R. A. Merriam,
James F. McEwen, Nathaniel Perley, Jeremiah Stone — did all
in their power to save the man and sustain the good name of
the Academy, but merely nominal damages were not enough
to disabuse the public mind, and Mr. Pike left shortly after
the fall term of 1835. He died in Boston Sept. 6, i860, at
the age of sixty-nine years. — See further, Geo. T. Chapman’s
Alumni of Dartmouth College.
MISS ANNA SEARLE.
Miss Searle taught sometime between the principalships
of Professors Pike and Greenleaf. She had taught a private
school in Georgetown, D. C., for eighteen or twenty years,
and brought to the Academy a ripe experience, eminent
qualifications, and a noble Christian character and influence.
She taught a full term, and no longer. She had “about fif-
teen pupils,” says Mrs. Sarah A. Jenness, of Beverly, “of
whom I was one. Mrs. Esther W. Hutchings, of Topsfield
was another. Miss Searle boarded with Mrs. Susannah
Cummings, sister of Moses Wildes, whose daughter Susan
Cummings married Rev. Martin Moore, of Charlestown,
MISS ANNA SEARLE.
25
Mass.” Mrs. Jenness continues: “Miss Searle was a lady of
culture and intellectual superiority, and a conscientious Chris-
tian. Her intellectual and moral instruction was enduring.
Her ability was not appreciated by the people.”
Miss Searle taught, it is understood, in Newburvport early
in her life. Mr. Isaac Wheelwright, a native of Newbury-
port, who studied for the ministry, and afterwards was an
eminent teacher in South America and who died two years
ago, at the advanced age of ninety-two years, attended her
school there and thought a great deal of her as a teacher.
Her oldest brother’s first settlement in the gospel ministry, it
is said, was in Virginia, and probably one led the other into
that section. She left her school in Georgetown, to visit her
father in his old age and sickness, intending, in due time, to
return to the school; but her own health was failing, and,
listening to the expressed wishes of her relatives and friends,
she decided to make the home of her youth the abode of her
declining years.
During this period, writes Mr. E. P. Searle, of Byfield,
“Aunt Ann taught in the old Emerson Seminary, in Byfield,
one or two years, a year or more in West Newbury, a town
school near the Byfield Depot, and a winter term in her
home district.” He writes further: “She was a lady of Stir-
ling character, of strong religious faith, pleasant and good in
all her ways.” Mrs. Sarah H. Todd, of Rowley, her niece,
writes: “She was a devoted Christian, and a lady of intelli-
gence and refinement. She taught a Sunday school of col-
ored children in Georgetown, D. C.”
Her parental home was the Searle corner, near the site of
the ancient Tenney grist-mill, and of the present Dummer
saw-mill, in Rowley-Byfield. Her parents were Joseph, Jr.,
and Molly Searle. She had a sister Ruthy, born March, 23,
1784; and brothers: Thomas Colman, born Jan. 15, 1787;
Joseph, 3d, born Dec. 2, 1789; Caleb, born May 21, 1792;
and Moses C[olman], who was supplying the Byfield pulpit
when he died. Thomas went to Madison, Ind., a six weeks
journey at that time, and was settled three years over the
first church gathered there, and died there leaving a wife and
two children, who have now passed away. Mr. E. P. Searle
never heard of his abode or labors in Virginia. Joseph
2 6
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
preached in North Bridgton and Saccarappa, Me., in one nf
which places he died leaving one son now living in Niles,
Mich. Caleb was a butcher whom the old people now re-
member as a marketman from Byfield to Salem twice a week.
Anna was born Nov. I, 1783. Where she was educated is
not known. Her Christian methods in school suggest a
training in the old Emerson Female Seminary in Byfield ;
but Rev. Joseph Emerson, buying the church edifice and
remodeling it, opened his school in 1818, about the time
Miss Searle began her labors at the national capital. She
never married. Fourteen days before her death, she had a
shock of palsy, dying June 11, 1841, in the house wherein
she was born.
CHAPTER III.
BENJAMIN GREENLEAF AND HIS SUCCESSORS,
ASA FARWELL, WILLIAM F. KENT, EDMUND F. SLAFTER,
BURTON O. MARBLE, DANIEL O. QUINBY, JOSEPH
H. NOYES, AND KINSMAN ATKINSON.
The last record that we find of the meeting of the Essex
County Teachers’ Association at this place, is dated Dec. i
and 2, 1835. The Association’s meeting in 1837 was held
Dec. 4 and 5, in the Court House at Ipswich. An advertise-
ment dated May 5, 1837, reads: “Six small boys or girls
may receive board, tuition and parental care in the family of
the subscriber, James F. McEwen.” By a pamphlet cata-
logue, 1839-40, Mr. Greenleaf taught the fall term and Mr.
Farwell the spring and summer terms. It is inferred from
these records that the Academy may have been discontinued
two or three years from the time when Mr. Pike left.
However that may be, the proprietors chose an attractive
name to open the “Second Summer term of 1839.” Richard
Phillips, as the proprietors’ secretary, advertised it for July
24, “under the care of Benjamin Greenleaf, Esq.,” and gave
as references: Rev. James F. McEwen, Charles H. Holmes,
Esq., Joseph C. Batchelder, M. D. No teacher was better
known in the county or enjoyed a better reputation as a
thorough, practical, and successful instructor. Mr. Greenleaf
was a graduate of Dartmouth College, in 1813, and had been
twenty-two years principal of the Bradford Academy, taking
it with ten students and leaving it with one hundred fifty, and
an enviable national reputation. While principal here, Mr.
Greenleaf accomplished considerable upon that series of arith-
metics which has made his name familiar throughout the
land — especially the Common School Arithmetic, which has
been imitated so much, but neither excelled nor even
equalled.
(27)
28
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
Some three or four months before his death, which oc-
curred Oct. 29, 1864, when he was 7 8 years old, the writer
visited him. He was genial and busy as ever. A large rib-
bon-box from a fancy goods store contained the manuscript
of his last book — a practical surveying — nearly completed.
He lived in his loved employ, and was oblivious to all else.
He had arranged a new multiplication table: “1 1-2 times
1 1-2 are 21-4; 1 1-2 times 2 1-2 are 3 3-4; 1 1-2 times
3 1-2 are 5 1-4, etc.” This he repeated with as much ease
as an ordinary school-boy would say, ‘‘Twice 2 are 4; twice
3 are 6; twice 4 are 8, etc.” From every round of the
mathematical ladder he would rehearse definition and rule
with an accuracy and rapidity that would distance and sur-
prise the most thorough collegiate. He spoke of Dr. Adams
and his arithmetic, of Warren Colburn and his “Colburns” —
of Adams with great respect and esteem, of Colburn with
admiration. He gave his visitor two photographs — one of
himself and one of Dr. Adams — and they are among the
writer’s choicest souvenirs.
The winter term began December 4th, and continued
eighteen weeks. Joseph E. Bonier, who was many years a
skillful physician at Ipswich, was a pupil, the term which
began April 15th and closed November 5th.
Another pupil, Mr. E. R. Perkins of Salem, writes, that
Mr. Greenleaf taught two terms, beginning in April and end-
ing in October, 1839, and adds: “I attended his first term;
the school numbered sixty scholars, of all grades and ages,
from ten years to twenty-five ; his nephew Moses P. Green-
leaf, of Haverhill, assisted in the lower grades. Mr. Green-
leaf was a rather nervous man; at times very active ; and
his clear, ringing voice would make the old academy ring
when a boy forgot to behave. He had a habit of smoothing
down a boy’s face heavily with his palm, if the boy was
caught whispering. He always opened school with prayer
and used the same one continually, full half the time scanning
every desk with his keen eyes. He used his own arithmetic,
and boys asking assistance he delighted to put off with a
cunning smile on his face, and the kindly injunction: ‘Puz-
zle it out.’ ”
Mrs. Ellen F. (Kimball) Morgan writes as follows : “By
BENJAMIN GREENLEAF.
ASA FARWELL.
29
a mere chance, I found among some old papers an original
catalogue of the Academy, issued in 1840, by that celebrated
mathematician, Benjamin Greenleaf, A. M., who was princi-
pal in the fall term of that year, and Asa Farwell, A. B.,
principal of the winter and summer terms. The number of
students was — gentlemen 58, and ladies 46. One of the
gentlemen was Geronimo Sigaroly, from St. Jago, Cuba.
Can any of those who attended school at the time give any
information in regard to the Spanish student, who drifted
into this quiet village from that fair island of the tropics?
In comparing the old catalogue with those of 1857 and ’58-,
by Profs. Healy and Allis, I find nearly the same induce-
ments, as healthfulness of locality, over-sight of students,
and other minor items, but the course of study suffers, in
comparison, not so much in the classical department as in
the English. We never found a more puzzling, yet practi-
cal arithmetic than Mr. Greenleaf s. His algebra was used
extensively in the schools at a later date. The curriculum
was narrow in other respects, when compared with the
branches taught from 1855 to 1859.”
After leaving this institution, he conducted the Bradford
Teacher’s Seminary, which was doubtless suggested by the
discussions of the Essex County Teachers’ Association, of
which he was one of the founders.
The wisdom of the proprietors of the school to employ
Mr. Greenleaf became apparent. He established its old-
time reputation, the old grounds re-echoed with the voices
of many students, and the halls were devoted to patient
study. It became an attraction alike to scholars and teach-
ers of character and ability.
ASA FARWELL.
Mr. Greenleaf was succeeded by Asa Farwell, A .B. J. C.
Batchelder, Secretary, March 7, 1840, announced the next
term of the school to begin April 15, 1840, under the care
of “the present Principal, Mr. Asa Farwell, A. B.” He be-
gan the preceding winter term.
Mr. E. R. Perkins, of Salem, one of his pupils, wrote:
“He was admired by his scholars, as a teacher and a gentle-
man.” Mr. Thomas K. Leach, of Topsfield, said: “He was
30
TIIE TOPSFIELI) ACADEMY.
a fine man and an excellent teacher.” Rev. Calvin E. Park,
of West Boxford, wrote: “He was held in high estimation
both as to talents and character.”
“Asa Farwell,”wrotehiswidowfrom Easthamptom, “taught
at Topsfield one year — 1840-1. He was born to Gurdon and
Anna (Farnsworth) Farwell, in Dorset, Vt., March 8, 1812.
He fitted for college under his pastor, Rev. William Jackson,
D. D., at Dorset, and at Burr Seminary, Manchester, Vt.
He graduated at Middlebury College, 1838, and at An-
dover Theological Seminary in 1842. He was approbated
to preach by the Andover Association, in the spring of that
year. From May, 1842, to Nov., 1853, he was principal of
Abbot Academy, Andover. He traveled in Europe during
a portion of 1849-50. He was ordained April 12, 1853, and
installed pastor of the Congregational church, in West Ha-
verhill, and dismissed in 1856. He preached in Bentonport,
on the Des Moines, Iowa, from 1866 to 1871, when he went
to Ashland, 24 miles from Lincoln, Nebraska. In 1877, he
became professor in Doane College, Crete, Nebraska. In
1881, he returned, in ill health, to Dorset, and in 1882 re-
tired to Ludlow, where his son, Charles Gurdon Farwell,
was principal of Black River Academy. He died suddenly,
of paralysis of the heart, May 14, 1888, in his 77th year.
“There have doubtless been many mep of more showy,
and among a large class of people of more popular, talent
than he ; but for sound scholarship and solid good sense,
for clear and scriptural views of evangelical faith, for sincere
and devoted piety, for honest and faithful service as a min-
ister, very few men have excelled him.”
His first wife was Hannah Sexton, of Windsor, Ct., who
was married Dec. 10, 1845, an^ died Sept. 4, 1848. His
second wife was her sister Mary Ann Sexton, who was mar-
ried Aug. 10, 1849, and with four sons of his six children
survives him.
WILLIAM FAYETTE KENT.
William Fayette Kent followed Prof. Farwell. He was
born in Dorset, Vt., in July, 1820, and graduated at Middle-
bury College, in 1839. He was principal of Bennington
Academy, 1839-40, and probably taught here next; he- was
EDMUND F. SLAFTER.
31
taxed here, as was Mr. Farwell, in 1841. He taught nearly
two terms. He was a very pleasant man and teacher, but
was reading law at the time and paid more attention to his
illustrious namesake and Blackstone than to his school.
The inevitable result followed. He left the school before
the timely ending of the term. It is said he read law in
Salem. For some years he was a mercantile agent in the
West and South. In 1851, he resided in Zanesville, O. He
died in 1856 — probably in St. Louis, Mo. He was an
energetic man, a fine scholar, and a brilliant speaker. He
delivered an oration at a Fourth of July celebration in
Topsfield, and Hon. Asahel Huntington, Otis P. Lord, Esq.,
(afterwards Judge Lord) and Secretary Crowninshield of
the U. S. Navy, were some of the dignitaries who graced
the occasion.
Mr. Humphrey Balch, of Topsfield, very highly compli-
mented his effort on that occassion, in giving us some account
of the celebration, and Mr. E. R. Perkins wrote: “He was a
fine orator. His oration was an eloquent production and
was widely commented upon and praised.”
EDMUND FARWELL SLAFTER.
Mr. Slafter was principal of the Academy one year, he says,
beginning in the autumn of 1841, and ending with the sum-
mer term of 1842. He was born May 30, 1816, and gradu-
ated at Dartmouth in 1840. “As a teacher, he was liked
very well,” wrote one of his pupils. He has gained celebrity
in the pulpit, and is widely known as an archaeologist, whose
authority is in high repute. He was ordained by the Rt.
Rev. Manton Eastburne, D. D., July 12, 1844; was Rector
of St. Peter’s church, Cambridge, two years; of St. John’s,
Jamaica Plain, 1846-53 ; was superintendent in the American
Bible Society of the Protestant Episcopal church, twenty
years; is a member of the Mass. Historical Society; Royal
Historical Society of England ; president of the Prince So-
ciety, and has been a member of its council from its organi-
zation in 1858 ; is registrar of the Diocese of Massachusetts,
and has issued six annual reports ; and is corresponding sec-
retary of the Mass. Bible Society and chairman of its pru-
dential committee. He has numerous publications : Death of
32
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
Gen. Zachary Taylor ; Planting and Growth of Episcopal
Church; Slafter Genealogy ; Assassination Plot of 1776;
Charter of Norwich, Vt. ; Vermont Coinage ; Anniversary of
the Historic-Genealogical Society ; Copper Coinage, 1632;
Pre-historic Copper Implements ; Voyages of the Norsemen ;
Voyages of Champlain; Incorrect Latitudes. 1535-1740;
Royal Arms, Emblems, Memorials ; Norman Discovery of
America; making 17 volumes in all. He now resides in
Boston, at the age of 83 years.
Joseph Edward Bomer was an assistant to Mr. Slafter.
Mrs. S. A. Jenness, of Beverly, writes, that young Bomer
was a member of the Academy in 1839, when Mr. Green-
leaf taught. She was a student at the time. She speaks in
praise of young Bomer’s perseverance. He walked to the
Academy from Wenham daily. He began to teach in the
winter of 1839 (in Hamilton, she thinks) and was recom-
mended by Mr. Greenleaf. His first school was a great suc-
cess.
Assistant Bomer was born in Beverly March 14, 1819, the
fifth son in a family of nine children. His father, John S.
Bomer, was a farmer, and of French descent. Joseph inher-
ited a delicate constitution ; he was fond of books ; and was
devoted to intellectual pursuits. He was a student under the
tuition of Prof. Slafter, who became very much attached to
him, and later on engaged him as assistant. Mr. Slafter,
under date of Nov. 10, 1842, thus commended him: —
“This may certify that Mr. Joseph E. Bomer has been a
member of this institution seven months, has made good at-
tainments in study, is a young man of great perseverance and
of good promise. He possesses an unimpeachable moral
character, is dignified and courteous in his manners and
worthy the highest esteem. He has read under my tuition
several of Cicero’s orations, and a part of the /Enead of
Virgil ; likewise the introductory exercises, the fables, and
120 paragraphs of Jacob’s Greek Reader; also Day’s Alge-
bra as far as infinitesimals, working all the problems. He
has been a successful teacher, and I can most cheerfully re-
commend him as being well qualified to instruct in any town
school agreeably to the laws of any of the New England
States.”
REV. EDMUND F. SLAFTER.
BURTON O. MARBLE.
n n
33
He afterwards studied in Phillips Exeter and Phillips An-
dover Academies and Harvard Medical School, graduating
from the latter in 1848. In 1 849, he settled in Ipswich. He
located near the residence of Dr. Thomas Manning, the old-
est and most skillful physician in the town. Dr. Bomer mar-
ried Caroline Elizabeth Hayes, daughter of Daniel Hayes, of
Gloucester (who now resides in Ipswich), Oct. 23, 1850, and
soon after, Dr. Manning, feeling the burden of his age and
profession, invited the young doctor to reside with him and
assume his practice. The offer was accepted and they lived
in reciprocal confidence to the end. Dr. Bomer was physi-
cian to the House of Correction till his death, examining
surgeon during the Rebellion, and member of the school
board many years. He was one of the founders of the Epis-
copal Church and society and an earnest supporter of them.
“A beautiful memorial window was placed in the chancel of
the church, by Rev. Dr. John Cotton Smith, as a sacred me-
morial of his love and devotion to the church.” He was a
genial, sympathetic, Christian gentleman, and was eminently
a public spirited citizen, and foremost in all works of public
utility. He died in Ipswich, Sept, n, 1864, aged forty-five
years.
BURTON ONESIPHORUS MARBLE.
Mr. Marble was taxed in Topsfield in 1844, and by that
fact we understand he taught the Academy during the spring
term of that year. Mr. E. R. Perkins, of Salem, says, Mr.
Marble began with the fall term of 1843 and taught through
the winter and spring, but is not sure that he taught the fol-
lowing summer. He was born in Bradford, Feb. 27, 1812,
and graduated at Dartmouth College, 1838, dying at Dover,
N. H., July 12, 1845, says Chapman’s Dartmouth Alumni.
Mr. Perkins continues: “He was very sober, stiff, sedate;
and was a very thorough teacher — he was thorough in every-
thing he taught; the lessons assigned were exactly defined
and to be thoroughly learned — it had to be done. He al-
lowed no whispering. It was the stillest school I was ever
in. Each scholar had to keep a record of his daily work —
of his errors and whispers. When a question was missed,
he would say, ‘You will please record an error.’ The records
34
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
were examined once a week. He was a teacher to be re-
spected.”
DANIEL OSGOOD QUINBY.
Prof. Quinby was taxed in Topsfield in 1845, and it is in-
ferred from that fact, that he taught the spring or summer
term of that year. His service ended with the summer term
in June, 1846. A correspondent writes : “Some thought he
was too familiar with his scholars ; he liked to play foot-ball
with them, and was fond of athletic sports. At the close of
the last term, he announced to the school, when the next
term would begin. The old bell rang the call but he never
responded.”
Mr. Quinby was born in Amesbury, Dec. 21, 1821. His
parents were Capt. Robert and Abigail, who owned large
farming interests. His mother was a daughter of Orlando
Sargent. She was a sister of Mrs. Sally Weed, who was 100
years old, Jan. 28, 1898, and is now living in Merrimac,
Her younger brother Francis, was of the firm of Francis
Sargent & Co., carriage manufacturers, Boston.
Daniel Quinby attended Dummer Academy five years, un-
der the tuition of Master Nehemiah Cleaveland. Joseph H.
Noyes, the next principal of the Topsfield Academy, was a
classmate. Mr. Quinby graduated at Bowdoin College in
1839. In his class were the the late Judge Choate of Salem,
Hon. William D. Northend, also of Salem, and W. W. Cald
well, of Newburyport
Directly after graduation and while a law-student, he
taught school two years in Maine. Then returning home to
Amesbury, he sought and obtained the principalship of the
Topsfield Academy. The office, however, not proving suf-
ficiently remunerative, he resigned at the end of the school
year, June, 1846.
After leaving the Academy, he was engaged, as teacher,
in Watertown, Mass. ; High school, Dover, N. H. ; Norwich
Academy, Ct. ; Union-Hall Academy, Jamaica, L. I. ; and
was sometime professor of chemistry in New York City.
During the last dozen years of his life, he was engaged in a
proprietary medicine business.
Mr. Quinby married, Nov. 25, 1859, Miss Clara Belle
JOSEPH H. NOYES.
35
Moulton, sister of H. VV. Moulton, Esq., of Newburyport,
and had five children, four of whom died in infancy. His
eldest child was a lady of great promise, residing, at the agp
of twenty-one ( 1890), in Paterson, N. J. Mrs. Quinby died
in Boston, Nov. 30, 1882 at the age of fifty-six years. Mr.
Quinby died of paralysis of the brain, in Haverhill, Mass.,
at the home of his brother, Thomas W. Quinby, Dec. 23,
1894, at the age of seventy-three years and a day. The re-
mains of all his dead repose in the Belleville Cemetery, New-
buryport, near the old Amesbury cemetery where lies the
ashes of their ancestors for the last two hundred and forty-
six years.
JOSEPH PI ALE NOYES.
Mr. Noyes taught three terms in the year 1846, beginning
in March or April. He was born in Byfield Parish, New-
bury, May 12, 1825, to Dea. Daniel and Mary Hale (Par-
ish) Noyes, who was a daughter of Rev. Elijah Parish, dis-
tinguished in clerical circles throughout the state, as author
and preacher. The family comprised eight sons and two
daughters.
Joseph was educated at Dummer Academy, and was prob-
ably admitted there at an earlier age than any other pupil.
He was reading Greek when only ten years old. He never
entered college, but was under private tutors, at Dummer,
an equivalent of two years in college.
He began life as teacher at the age of eighteen years.
He taught the Feoffee’s school at Ipswich with marked suc-
cess, and was called to the Purchase Street school, then to
the Jackman school, Newburyport. Leaving Topsfield, he
was elected principal of the High school in Brattleboro, Vt.,
and after that service had charge of High schools in Malden,
Wellesley, and Marblehead, and made an honorable record
in Medford, Dedham, and Newton. One of his Topsfield
students writes: “He was liked very well as a teacher; he
was a very handsome man ; a good penman, and taught a
writing-school evenings, during the winter term.” Bowdoin
College conferred upon him, July 13, 1871, an honorary A.
M., in recognition of his standing as a classical teacher.
The honor was not sought by him, and came as a surprise.
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
The state of his health compelled his retirement in 1884,
after a school service of more than forty years ; when he re-
turned to Newburyport, and engaged in the far less irksome
duties of book-keeper and cashier for W. H. Noyes & Broth-
er. He was prominent in church circles, and for seven years
was superintendent of the “Old South” Sunday school.
Mr. Noyes married, in Newbury-Byfield, Dec. 1, 1853,
Miss Abby Maria Young, who was born in Newburyport,
July 28, 1828, to Abigail Tenney and James Young, a gro-
cer and trader. She died, in Newburyport, Jan. 4, 1871.
He married, second, in Worcester, Dec. 29, 1874, Mary
Elizabeth Moore, who was born there April 13, 1839, to
Mary Fuller and Wm. G. Moore, a farmer. Prof. Noyes
died Sept. 25, 1896, in his 72nd year. He had four children :
twin sons, born April 26, 1857. who died less than a week
old — Abbie Parish, born in Newburyport, Aug. 28, 1861 ;
married Sept. 12, 1893, in Newburyport, Samuel Foster
Jaques, a civil-engineer, who was born there, Nov. 29, 1865,
to Rachel Ann Foster and Edmund Jaques, a mill-overseer;
lives in Hyde Park, having one child, Mildred Noyes, born
in Brockton, Sept. 29, 1895 — James Young, living in Ded-
ham, born in Newburyport, March 7, 1865 ; married in Ded-
ham, Oct. 1 1, 1894, Ada Withington Bigelow, who was born
in West Boylston, May 22, 1864, to Maria Elizabeth P'uller
and Henry Clay Bigelow. Both father and son are engaged
in the insurance business.
KINSMAN ATKINSON.
Rev. Kinsman Atkinson taught one term of eleven weeks
in the fall of 1849. His tuition bills, written on paper 3 1 by
2 inches, are dated Nov. 12th, which was the end of the term,
and show that tuition in common branches was three dollars.
Mr. Atkinson at the time was pastor of the local Metho-
dist Episcopal Church and continued there two years. Dur-
ing the pastorate he also taught the Linebrook (Ipswich)
winter school ( 1 848-9) and the Topsfield North winter school
( 1849-50). While pastor of this church, he bought land for
a parsonage ; he then circulated a paper himself for funds
for the house; he then collected the money and built the
house ; and lastly presented the parsonage to the trustees of
DANIEL OSGOOD QUIN BY.
JESSE A. WILKINS.
37
the society. He was known as a man of great energy, quick
to discover a need and alert to supply it, and is remembered
with gratitude and great respect.
Mr. Atkinson was born at Buxton, Me., to John and Olive
(Haley) Atkinson, Oct. 16, 1807; and died at Cambridge,
Mass., Dec. 23, 1888. He was one of twelve children; at
six years, removing with his parents to Eaton, N. H. In
1825, he studied at Fryeburg Academy, Me.; in 1826, at
Atkinson Academy, N. H., and that year taught in Wen-
ham. He finished his preparation for college at Phillips
(Andover) Academy, and entered Bowdoin College in 1831 ;
he joined the junior class in Harvard in 1833, where he
graduated in 1834. He studied divinity (as it used to be
called) at Andover, and Dr. Leonard Woods, professor in
the institution, paid him the high tribute: “Kinsman Atkin-
son is a young man of refined feelings, ardent piety, and the
best scholar in his class.” He was ordained a Congrega-
tionalist in 1838, but after five years service, changed his
views of church government and joined the M. E. church.
From 1858 to i860, he was a supernumerary and after 1861
superannuate, when he made Cambridge his home. His
neighbors said of him: “He always aims to do right”;
others say, “We are convinced that he loved the Lord with
all his might, mind, and strength, and his neighbors as
himself.”
JESSE ALLISON WILKINS.
Mr. Wilkins taught the Academy, the spring and summer
terms of 1850, teaching the Topsfield Center Grammar
school the preceding winter and the one following.
He was born at Middleton, Mass., Sept. 10, 1830, the
eighth child and fourth son in a family of thirteen children.
His parents were James Wilder and Betsey (Smith) Wilkins.
His mother was a devout Christian and helpful in church
and society. His father was a farmer, who made home
happy, his lands productive, and was held in excellent re-
pute among his people, so that he practiced almost every
office in their gift. In his seventy-sixth year he was elected
to represent his district in the state legislature.
Jesse Wilkins attended the public school of his town, and
38
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
during his twelfth summer the Topsfield Academy, under
the patronage of his uncle Dr. George Sawyer, of Boxford,
who boarded him and paid his tuition. His father gave him
“his time” when he was fifteen years of age. He assumed
his middle name. His first business was an employing shoe-
maker. While thus engaged, he experienced a change of
heart, which changed his life purpose and labor.
He began to prepare for the teacher’s vocation in the
spring of 1846, at the Normal Academy, Westfield. He
studied afterwards at Williston Seminary, Easthampton,
where he finished his English course. In the spring of
1851, he entered the classical department of Phillips (Ando-
ver) Academy. From that time his course was frequently
interrupted by the want of funds, and he was obliged to
have recourse to his English attainments in the practice of
archery. “Teaching the young idea how to shoot.” How
long he studied at Andover is unknown to me, he was, how-
ever, a member of the junior and middle classes. The
spring and fall of 1853, he attended Phillips (Exeter)
Academy.
His first school was in Beverly, the winter of 1847-8. He
taught four grammar schools in Gloucester — two successive
winters at Riverdale, Haskell district; then the Harbor win-
ter school ; then the Point school, and afterwards the prin-
cipal grammar school at the Harbor. He was next elected
to the principal school in Newbury, then to the South gram-
mar school in Beverly, where he remained several terms —
till he resolved to relinquish the profession in 1854. In
1855, he resumed his classical studies in the private school
of Rev. Dr. Luther Wright, Easthampton, the first princi-
pal of Williston Seminary. The school was closed at the
end of his second term, and he entered the family school of
Rev Edward Root of Williamsburg, the winter of 1856.
Mr. Root accepted a call to Springfield, Ohio, and his stu-
dent accepted the tuition of Rev. Dr. Gerdon Hall, North-
ampton. He completed his classical studies with Prof.
Calvin Stone, at Andover, during the long summer vacation
of 1857, and that fall entered Andover Theological Semin-
ary. Owing to a protracted sickness, he did not graduate
until 1861.
JESSE A. WILKINS.
39
He was licensed to preach by the Essex South Associa-
tion of Ministers, March 5th, i860., Dr. J. E. Dwinell,
moderator. He has had four pastorates: the First Con-
gregational Church, Hubbardston, Mass., 1861 and 2; First
Congregational Church, Woodstock, Conn., 1864 and 5;
the United Churches, Chesterfield, Mass., 1867 and 8; and
the First Congregational Church, North Scituate, R. I., 1868
and 9.
He continued in the ministry, till the spring of 1871,
when he was completely broken by nervous prostration.
Repeated efforts to recuperate proved unavailing, and he
sought the open air, an active pursuit, a quieter and less ex-
acting life, and became an independent farmer. He located
in Woodstock, Conn. ; his health is precarious, but he is
able most of the time to attend to the duties of his farm.
CHAPTER IV.
THE PERIOD OF GREATEST ACTIVITY.
GEORGE CONANT AND J. W. HEALY.
Israel Rea and Benjamin P. Adams were chiefly instrument-
al in the reopening of the Academy under the tuition of Mr.
George Conant, in 1852. Tuition bills are extant, dated
June 29, and Oct. 5, 1852, and July 7, and Oct. 5, 1853. The
first term of 1853, began Jan. 19, and continued twelve weeks.
Miss Lovering was preceptress in 1852, and Miss S. F.
Nichols and Miss Mary Anne Friend of Georgetown in 1853.
The school prospered greatly under Mr. Conant. Its old-
time reputation and activity returned. There were the De-
bating Club, the Young Men’s League, and dramatic exhibi-
tions, which excited great local interest and much favorable
comment. The debates were participated in by the citizens
as if they were students again. The interests of school and
people seemed identical, and all gained pleasure and profit.
Mr. Conant was apt in his management of the school, in his
methods of teaching, and in his planning and conducting the
public exhibitions. Miss Nichols was an accomplished scholar
and belonged to a prominent family in Lowell. She was a
recent graduate. Miss Lovering was much older and was
employed more as a music teacher than as a teacher of gen-
eral branches. Miss Friend whom he married in the fall of
1853, was daughter of John Friend and born in Andover, in
1829. She was reared in Boxford, and taught school in
Georgetown. Her writings, both prose and verse “were
much admired.”
Miss Friend became his wife in the fall of 1853, before
his last term. She taught with him about twenty-nine
years, and died very suddenly in Alexandria, N. Y. After
leaving Topsfield they were principal and preceptress of
(40)
GEORGE CONANT.
41
Hanover Academy, Plymouth County, after which they re-
moved to Ohio, where they taught seventeen years. He was
superintendent of schools and she taught in the High school.
They afterward taught successively in Kenosha, Wis., Buffalo,
N. Y., and Aurora, near Buffalo, for seven years.
Mr. Conant was born at Provincetown, Mass., May 8, 1827.
His father was Rufus Conant, a merchant in Sandwich for
thirty years. He was educated mainly by himself, attending
an academy only a few terms. While he lived at Lyme, N.
H. — a few years about 1840-45 — he was a playmate with
Judge C. C. Conant, now of Greenfield, Mass. By a sad
accident he lost an eye when a small child. He was a fine
scholar, medium height, and blue-eyed. He had a younger
brother Rufus, who was of Farnsworth & Conant, lawyers,
Court st., Boston, and who died March 17, 1880, leaving a
widow, who now resides at Brookline.
Mr. Conant has furnished us with the following very mod-
est yet pleasing account of himself : —
“I taught my first school in the wilds of New Hampshire,
in the winter of ’43 and ’44. I was then between 16 and 17
years of age. Six inches of snow lay on the ground the day
I opened school, Oct. 22, and it never fully left the ground
during the sixteen weeks of the session. I received two dol-
lars a week and “boarded round.” The good mothers put
the schoolmaster in the best room and bed, without a fire,
ice and frost often sparkling in the candle-light on the walls.
He thawed out the icy sheets with his warm young blood,
and was ready to rise and enjoy a solid breakfast with the
family before daylight. Often the snow was so deep and the
distance to the school-house so great, that the big sled used
for hauling wood was turned over, five or six rollicking girls
and boys piled on with their well-filled dinner pails, a yoke
of oxen hitched on. and with the snow up to the horned ani-
mals noses, they ploughed their slow cold way to the school-
house amid the pranks and laughter of the living freight.
Fifty years afterward exactly, I visited that neighborhood,
hunted for some relic of the “little red school house”, but did
not only fail to find some reminder of the old building, but
had difficulty even in locating the site; for trees a foot in
diameter stood where I a-half-century before, had “wielded
42
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
the birch.” In my
Fifty Years Ago,” I
Round.”
poem entitled “The
find the following 1
District School of
ines on “Boarding
The contract with each teacher then
Was “so much a month and found ;”
The finding in those early days
Was known as “Boarding Round.”
How oft the “Master” wished he’d never
Had a calling so renowned,
Made to sit in the chimney corner,
A kind of oracle “Boarding Round.”
Six hours labor in the school-room,
Ten hours in the grind-stone ground !
What a place to practice patience,
As he went circling, “Boarding Round.”
He must have iron-clad “digesters,”
He must feelings never wound,
And be a walking cyclopedia
In every house, while “Boarding Round.”
Obliged to smile and pet the peevish,
Whom ’twould have suited him to pound,
He had to flatter all the mothers,
Or else he couldn’t “Board Around.”
Called to sing when he’d be sighing,
And as a victim to be crowned ;
Not with plaudits but with outcries,
“Awful nice” ’twas, “Boarding Round !”
Many a “school-marm” of that old-time,
Was like a pack-horse broken down,
Carrying loads by day and night-time,
As she plodded “Boarding Round.”
Perfumed by the kitchen frying,
Stunned by noises as she frowned,
Frozen in the icy bed-rooms,
“Awful nice” ’twas, “Boarding Round !”
JOSEPH WARREN HEALY.
43
Yetteachers’ places ne’er went begging,
Two dollars weekly, the teacher found,
No rest or surcease for the weary,
Yet awful nice. ’twas,, “Boarding Round !”
Before I commenced on annual school-work I had taught
five winter schools : in Lyme and Nashua, N. H. ; in Marion,
Melrose, and Westport Point, Mass. The first yearly posi-
tion was at Westport Point, and the second at Fall River,
Mass. Then I took charge of Topsfield Academy for two
years. Without specifying other fields of labor* I will say in
brief, I was six years as Principal in annual schools, seven-
teen years as superintendent of City schools, and nineteen
years as Principal of Academies.
Miss Mary Anne Friend, of Georgetown, was my last as-
sistant in Topsfield. She became my wife in 1853 and taught
with me twenty-nine years. She was an accomplished and
thorough teacher, a writer and a poet. She excelled as a
mathematician and teacher of Latin and French. She could
shower figures on the black-board with either hand, and at
times cipher with both hands at a time, an accomplishment
seldom witnessed. She died suddenly of heart disease in
Alexandria, N. Y., Feb. 18, 1883. I have for the past five
years resided in Pasadena, California, and expect to make it
my permanent home. I gave up teaching in 1892, having
been in the school-room nearly forty-five years,”
Mr. Conant is a member of the Southern California Acad-
emy of Science. He travels extensively, and is -correspond-
ent for the State Press Association of California.
JOSEPH WARREN HEALY.
J. W. Healy, A. B., succeeded Mr Conant. He began
with the summer term of 1854, and bought the property the
next following vacation. His wife, Mrs. Jane C. Healy, was
preceptress. He employed as his assistants, men. of strong
character and excellent scholarship. In 1855-6 H. J. Richard-
son, A. B., assisted in mathematics and natural sciences; A.
J. Pike, A. B., followed him. Prof. C. P. Bronson lectured
on physiology and elocution, and Prof. A. P. Shattuck taught
penmanship. Among his assistant pupils were Daniel Wil-
44
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
kins in mathematics; A. B. Coffin and G. L. R. Gleason in
vocal music ; Nelson Spofford and Susan E. Perley in
English branches.
Mr. Healy’s first term numbered fifty scholars; the sec-
ond, sixty-nine ; the third, or winter (1854-5), seventy-two ;
the spring, one hundred and two. During 1855-6, the stu-
dents numbered two hundred and three, ladies ninety-two,
gentlemen one hundred and eleven ; in classics fifty-two, in
English one hundred and ninety-seven ; summer term seven-
ty-five, fall term one hundred, winter term ninety-eight,
spring term one hundred and sixteen. It seemed as if the
school had at last eaten of the tree of life and would live
forever.
He revised and enlarged the course of study and adapted
it to existing needs. He established two departments, Class-
ical and English, and made “the course,” three years, of four
terms each. His classical course, arranged for mental disci-
pline, led directly into New England college life. His Eng-
lish course provided for the needs of the business communi-
ty, and embraced studies in moral science and social culture.
The government was eminently parental. Tuition in com-
mon English branches was $4.00 per term, in higher Eng-
lish $5.00, and in the languages $1.00 each, extra.
The government is thus aptly mirrored in Mrs. Morgan’s
reminiscences: “Mr. Healy was quite remarkable for his
punning propensity, as a mode of punishment, and woe be
to the unlucky student, who received a reprimand in that
way. In the lower room, desks opened with a lid, which,
when raised, shielded the scholar from observation, giving a
fine opportunity for cabilistic signs with fingers and face,
but the ‘old high desk,’ reached by four steps, was the great-
est torture. For some misdemeanor, the Preceptor, with the
blandest smile, would request the offender to occupy the
chair at his side ; then while a recitation was in progress, he
would draw the attention of the whole school to the recrean-
cy, with his facetious remarks, causing a roar of merriment.
Oh ! what refined torture to sensitive nerves, but salutary in
its effect. Government was good, and pupils were always
interested in his mode of teaching, which was quite original,
presenting old truths in a new dress.”
THE SCHOOL LYCEUM.
45
Every Wednesday afternoon was devoted to rhetorical
exercises. Original compositions were read by the ladies,
and declamations or compositions rendered by the gentle-
men. Mrs. Morgan here remarks, “During those years when
more than a hundred pupils responded to the roll-call, it was
a trying ordeal for a young man to deliver his “maiden
speech,” and the ladies’ presence proffered no overtures of
sympathy, but rather added to his discomfiture by smiles and
suppressed laughter. In the Lyceum, the tables were turned,
and the gentlemen had the advantage, their laughter was
outright and hearty.”
The Lyceum, so popular and effective during Mr. Conant’s
principalship, was revived. Live questions were discussed,
and it was a parliament in government. Kimball, Gleason,
Wiley, Clark, Pierce, Hardy, Wilkins, Merriam, Harvey,
Pearson, Towne, Porter, Rea, Balch, Stowe, Newell, Dodge,
Fowler, Ames, Rollins, and others we cannot now recall, were
the Websters, Clays, and Henrys of the occasion.
Besides the Lyceum, each yearly and semi-annual examin-
ation closed with an exhibition. The exhibitions were antici-
pated with great interest by students and citizens alike.
They were planned to entertain the people. They were of
high character, morally and intellectually. They were the
best effort of the originators and actors. The lyceums were
not alone confined to the students; citizens were invited,
and many a civilian engaged in the “war of words,” and
many a spectator enjoyed the forensic efforts and the mirth.
The practice was a strong one ; it brought the two together,
and a sympathy between the school and the people sprung
up, of mutual benefit. Here, too, the ladies participated.
If the efforts of the gentlemen were golden, the papers pre-
pared by the ladies for the occasions were jewels in gold-
settings. They were filled with solid thought, with wit and
wisdom, and sparkled with merriment. They added much or
most, to the enjoyment and success of the occasions.
They prepared a paper each week. Before us is a copy
of the Iris and two copies of the Excelsior. Iris No. 4,
says “ the number of our subscribers is continually increas-
ing”— a phrase which if original with the Iris and had been
patented would have made a millionaire of the editor, for
46
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
every publisher uses it now. One of the correspondents had
a dream, in which a stationer’s show-window was exhibited
to him with ink in it that would write on any subject without
the penman’s thought, except that he choose the ink adapt-
ed. He tried some — “Sniggs’ Sublime Ink” — with this re-
sult:—
THE TEMPEST CLOUD.
“Behold yon monster black as night,
On cloudy pinions swift he comes ;
He rends the oak with lightning bright —
Those thorns and firey-forked tongues.
His bellowing strikes the earth with fear,
All nations tremble at the sight.
How weep the skies when he is near !
The mountains reel and rock with fright!”
The next was “Sniggs’ Love Ink.”
“Fair Julia, smile on me again,
Nay, do not wear that look of scorn ;
Bid hope within my bosom reign,
Bid joy return and doubt begone.
Take back those cruel, cruel words
That thou so hastily hast spoken ;
Let not the heart that beats for thee —
For thee alone, be rudely broken.”
The Iris being a model family paper, of course had a
children’s column.
CONUNDRUMS.
What street is particularly attractive to a certain young
gentleman of our school? Bradstreet. [Though ordinarily
a hard question, hardly a scholar could Dodge the correct
answer as given.]
Who buys algebra by the cent’s worth? S. Noyes.
Who trades in old boots and neck stocks? Perley, Dodge,
Jenniss & Co.
The Excelsior was edited by Miss Charlotte E. Perkins.
These articles are particularly good : “Education,” “The Use
JOSEPH WARREN PIEALY.
4 7
of Tobacco,” and “Slavery.” Here are a couple of conun-
drums: “What young man is likely to be in great demand
the coming winter? Cole (coal). A certain young lady
has a warlike spirit — why? She’s in favor of Killam.
Here is one of the propositions from Dorman’s Moral
Geometry : Theorem — Truth in a very low place is falsehood.
First let it be admitted that all the old proverbs are true.
Then submit : “Truth cannot be hid, though it lies in a well.”
Extending the “figure,” we see that in times of great danger,
a man may lie if so disposed. Q. E. D. Corollary — Truth is
an elastic substance, from the fact that men can stretch true
stories.
I am favored with an order of examination. These were
usually interspersed with rhetorical exercises and occupied
two or three days.
The last days of the term, May 12-13, 1856, were occupied
with compositions, by Misses E. C. Batchelder, S. A. Low, M.
E. Jones, M. Hale, E. A. Hood, C. Rogers, R. P. Perley, C. A.
Perkins, R. E. Emerson, L. M. Bixby, C. E. Perkins, C. M.
Low, E. G. Dorman, and E. A. A. Rea; and with orations
by gentlemen, D. S. Balch, S. P. Fowler, C. Newell, H. B.
Putnam, S. A. Merriam, H. G. Rollins, H. S. Clark, G. LeR.
Gleason, and George Pierce, Jr. The subjects are not given.
The exercises in the evening were in the Congregational
church and consisted of invocation, address by Rev. Mr.
Dwinell, of Salem, poem by S. J. Pike, Esq., of Lawrence,
which were interspersed with music by Wales’ Serenade and
Quadrille Band.
“Rev. Joseph Warren Healy, D. D., was born in South
Hero, Vt., April n, 1827, to Nathaniel and Jane (Tabor)
Healy. He fitted for college at Newbury Seminary and
Bradford Academy, Vt. He graduated at the University of
Vermont in 1852. He was principal of the Bath Academy,
N. H., before coming to Topsfield. While teaching at Tops-
field, he supplied the pulpit of the Linebrook (Ipswich)
church, perhaps two years. The Linebrook society made
him a life member of the Foreign Missionary Society, April
10, 1856. The church and society under his guidance, en-
joyed a period of harmony and prosperity, and grew in
numbers and healthful strength. While at Topsfield he at-
48
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
tended lectures at the Andover Theological Seminary, and
was licensed by the Salem Congregational Association.
Leaving the Academy, he preached at Royalston, Gardner
and Walpole. Then removing to the West, he preached six
years in Milwaukee, and four years in Chicago. While there
he was called to the pastorate and presidency of Straight
University, in New Orleans, La. There he attended medical
lectures and received the medical degree. In 1871, Olivet
College, Mich'., conferred upon him the doctorate of divinity.
He was also an LL. D.* In 1871, he was delegated by the
American Missionary Association to visit Great Britain and
organize an auxiliary to that society. He resided in London
as its secretary for three years. While abroad, he visited
the continent and the East, and lectured in the principal
cities of Great Britain. Returning home he was elected pro-
fessor of English literature and pastoral theology in Mary-
ville College, Tenn. Preferring an active pastorate to the
routine of professional life, he returned to Milwaukee in 1878.
The death of his wife prostrated him. Subsequently he went
to California for his health. In 1883, he was a pastor in
Oakland, Cal. Upon the incorporation of Sierre-Madre Col-
lege, at Pasadena, in 1884, he was selected as the president.
Subsequent to 1885, he retired from the ministry, resided in
San Diego, Cal., and latterly practised medicine.”
*For the purpose of the General Catalogue of his Alma Mater, it was
thought necessary to know the source and date of his title LL. D., and
the date of his title M. D. About twenty-five communications are before
me relative to its source and their dates. They all rest upon memory,
and agree wonderfully in regard to the time, yes, and source also. The
words of Gen. Chas. H. Howard and Rev. E. M. Strieby, D. D., who
were quite familiar with his work in New Orleans, are as pertinent as
any.
Gen. Howard says:
“My impression is strong that the title LL. D., was given Dr. Healy
by Straight University, at the time of his going to Europe.” Later he
wrote: — "I remember that Dr. Healy had the degree conferred upon him,
about the time he went abroad to reside in London, and that is about
all I know concerning the matter.”
Dr. Strieby writes:
“The vague impression on my mind is that he obtained this degree,
with several other honorary titles, such as F. R. S., etc., in Great Britain.
Of this I am not sure. It is barely possible they may have been given
to him by the S. U.” * * * * “Yet, I fear that nothing will be found, for
our people were then engaged in making history and not in writing it.”
JOSEPH WARREN HEALY.
49
Mr. Healy was a diligent worker, an excellent teacher,
social, genial, a ready reader of human nature, and easily
made himself master. He led his school; his scholars were
ambitious, diligent, social, and in the main made the most of
their opportunities. He was ambitious. In whatever he en-
gaged, he threw his entire self. Whatever he did, was well
done, from principle. Every station he held he made an
opening door to the next higher station. He used to say to
his scholars : “Be not bent by circumstances, but bend them.”*
He loved to do good, realizing that in such service was his
highest honor. That idea was the inspiration of his life ; and
his life subserved that great end.
While preaching at Linebrook, he took one and another
of his older students with him, to the religious meetings of
the parish, thus introducing them into society and its service,
and giving a practical turn to school life. We know of his
saying “Come into the school and if the burden of the tuition
is too great, it will be remitted.” Whatever was money in
his family was good for tuition, and many a farmer-lad thus
figured out results to a fraction. Among his students, he
was a whole “Lend-a-Hand” Society, judicious and efficient.
After leaving the Academy, but before going west, he
united the society of Royalston, paid their church debt and
repaired the church. At Walpole he enlarged the sphere and
usefulness of the church and society, and solidified its
strength. He was at Gardner, a preacher they praised.
Coming out of the church edifice one Sunday, we heard —
“That was an able discourse” — “yes, it was ; I never heard that
subject handled better.” His society was proud of him.
In the west, he was the same scholarly, eloquent helper.
In Chicago he was, under God, the organizer of twelve reli-
gious societies that built church edifices. But more, he would
herald the truth from pulpit and press. He was one of the
founders of The Advance , a paper of high rank and doctrinal
authority.
^Circumstances, on occasions, seemed to be made for him, or required
but little bending. Upon hearing a rumor of Mr. Healy’s death, the
writer sent a missive of inquiry into his vicinity. The letter fell into
his hand, when he immediately sent “a penny messenger” on which was
written: “Psalm 118, vs. 18 and 17. As ever thine. J. W. H.”
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
O
In New Orleans, he was pastor of the First Congregational
Church, and was consulted for “the benefit of his judgment
in selecting points in Louisiana, for schools.” During the
year 1869-70, he was president of Straight University, and
superintendent of church organization for Louisiana, Missis-
sippi, and Texas. The next two years he was president,
three years in all, but was absent in Great Britain, soliciting
funds for scholarships. This was his work for the A. M. A.,
the patron of the University.
The test of establishing churches and schools in the South,
just following the War of the Rebellion, was as exacting as it
was noble. It required judgment and knowledge pre-emi-
nent, tact and discretion, and, withall, a readiness of heart
and hand. It was a place of dignity, learning and religious
character. Mr. Healy’s part was done acceptably, promptly
and honorably. So well and favorably was he known and
appreciated among the literati, that there was power in the
mention of his name.
Rev. D. W. Hanna, president of Los Angeles College, says
of Sierra-Madre College, Pasadena, of which Dr. Healy was
president: — “A liberal grant was made for it, a good school
building was erected, and the site was admirable; but Pasa-
dena did not prove attractive — it seemed impossible to
awaken adequate enthusiasm. The school numbered from
thirty to fifty students. It was started under the leadership
of Rev. J. W. Ellis, D. D., of San Francisco. Shortly after
the college opened, the board of trustees elected Dr. Healy,
who was then pastor of the Presbyterian Church, at Santa
Monica, to the presidency, for the influence of his name.
Dr. Healy’s health was then very poor, and he did not occupy
the office, nor change his residence, nor take any active part
in the college work. He resigned at the end of his year,
1884-5, and Prof. J. M. Coyner presided. The doctor was
in no way responsible for the college. It continued about
two years ; the building is now a private residence.” Mr.
Hanna spoke very highly of Dr. Healy’s work at Santa
Monica.
He married, Oct. 8, 1848, Miss Jane Hibbard Clark, who
was born in Groton, Vt., May 12, 1830. She studied in the
Female Seminary, Burlington, Vt., taught with her husband
JOSEPH WARREN HEALY.
51
at Bath and Topsfield, and adorned the place of a pastor’s
wife wherever he labored. She died at her mother’s home
in Corinth, Vt., Sept. 12, 1880, beloved and lamented, a pure
and gentle spirit. Their children were Jane Corinne, who
was born March 6, 1850, and died October 8, 1850; and
Frank Joseph, who was born March 4, 1857; studied at
Olivet College and London (England) University ; was ad-
mitted to the bar, 1878; was editor of the Gazette, Fort
Wayne, Ind., till 1 884 ; and is now on the editorial staff of the
Tribune, Cleveland, O.
His second wife was Mrs. Ellen R. White, widow of W. M.
White, a merchant of Washington, D. C., who died there of
consumption. She was Miss Young, born in Bangor, Me.,
Feb. 2, 1833. She became Mrs. Healy July 21, 1884, while
he was preaching in Santa Monica. She has built her a
home at Riverside, Cal., but will spend her summers at San
Diego.
Mr. Healy preached about three years in Woodland, and
Oakland, before visiting southern California. He was pastor
of the Presbyterian church at Santa Monica, three years. He
never recovered from the prostration following his first wife’s
death. He loved life and labor, and when driven by ill health
from one field, he sought another field immediately upon
recuperation. As a last resort, when he could no longer
stand to preach, in the fall of 1886, he sought a change of
air and began to practise medicine in San Diego. He died
of spinal abscess, April 26, 1887, and was buried at San
Diego, under imposing and solemn rites by Masons and Odd
Fellows. He was paralyzed and speechless for 20 hours, a
patient sufferer. Dr. Healy was an exemplary man — one of
nature’s noblemen. He arose by his own exertions, and
achieved a grand success. His titles are emblems of his
character and attainments.
The Congregational Year Book says: — “Mr. Henry Jack-
son Richardson was born in Middleton, Mass., June 23, 1829,
to Daniel and Olive Berry (Perkins) Richardson. He fitted
for college at Phillips Academy, and graduated at Amherst,
in 1855, and at Andover Theological Seminary, in 1859;
taught in the Topsfield Academy, 1855-6, was ordained at
Lincoln, Mass., Sept. 6, i860; and was released from active
52
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
pastoral charge, May io, 1892. He married, June 26, 1864,
Mrs. Harriet Amelia, widow of Theodore French, of Con-
cord, N. H., and daughter of Dea. William and Abby (Reed)
Colburn, of Lincoln. He died of la grippe, Dec. 19, 1893.”
Rev. Alpheus Justus Pike, who was assistant to Profs.
Healy and Allis, was born in Topsfield, March 7, 1828. His
father was a farmer and cultivated broad fields and rich soil.
He was educated at Thetford Academy, Vt., and at Dart-
mouth College, graduating in 1855. He studied theology at
Andover, Mass., and at East Windsor, now Hartford, Conn.
He was ordained and installed at Marlboro, Conn., and after-
wards had successive charge of churches in Sauk Centre,
Minn., and Mandan and Dawson, Dak. He has also labored
for the American Missionary Association both in the United
States and Great Britain. He is now located at Dwight,
Dakota.
Mrs. Morgan says: — “Our respected teacher and townsman
A. J. Pike, A. B., afterwards a minister, is well remembered.
He was a most thorough scholar; he always carried the text
books closed in his hand without the slightest thought of re-
ferring to them. In the clear, autumn evenings, he would
take the class out on the hills and point out the different con-
stellations, making our lessons in astronomy of practical
value.”
Prof. B. Robert Downes, Bradford, was a teacher of music
during Prof. Healy’s principalship and those who followed.
His only business was teaching music, chiefly, it is under-
stood, instrumental. He was always busy — “have all I can
do,” as he once remarked. Here Mrs. Morgan remarks: —
“I must not forget Professor of music, B. R. Downes. Can
we not se*e him passing from home to home of his pupils,
swinging his cane in the air, ready to fall in repeated blows
on reaching the door, then taking quiet little naps while the
lessons were thrummed, always good-natured and happy.”
CHAPTER V.
OBEDIAH DICKINSON ALLIS, ALBERT IRA DUTTON,
AND THE LAST DAYS OF THE ACADEMY.
Prof. O. D. Allis, A. M., began here with the winter term
of 1856-7, and closed his services with the fall term of 1858.
He continued the school in relation to the course of study,
terms and tuition, as these had been adopted by Mr. Healy.
The character of the school was fully sustained. A. J. Pike,
A. B., assisted him in the winter term ; Austin Hazen, A. B.,
in the spring term; L. T. Burbank, A. B., of Williams Col-
lege, thereafter. Mrs. Mary A. Jones was preceptress, Miss
C. M. Thurston was assistant. Prof. B. R. Downes, jr.,
taught piano music ; G. LeR. Gleason, vocal music ; and
Daniel T. Ames, penmanship.
Three rhetorical programs have been loaned me. May 6,
1857, has the following orations: — Every man a debtor to
his profession, by George L. Blanchard ; Influence of Wash-
ington, by M. V. B. Perley ; The present crisis of our coun-
try, by D. F. Towne ; Athens, by S. A. Merriam ; The schol-
ar’s hope, by J. G. Colt; The mind measured by its object,
by G. E. Joslin; Decay an element of growth, by D. T.
Ames; The influence of the age in producing great men, by
G. LeR. Gleason ; Eloquence of decay, by N. T. Kimball ;
Israel Putnam, by S. P. Fowler. Compositions were read by
Misses L. Burbank, S. A. Chamberlain, H. McLoud, M. A.
Hoyt, H. A. Wells, E. A. R. Towne, E. A. Putnam, H. M.
Kimball, M. M. Farrar, C. F. Kimball, M. A. Dickinson, R.
P. Perley, C. A. Perkins, C. E. Batchelder, and A. Rogers.
The rhetorical exercises, Nov. 1 1, 1857, were : — Orations —
Ambition essential to great achievements, by Geo. F. Flint;
Responsibility of Americans, by J. C. Leonard ; The Press, by
N. D. Dodge; The condition and prospects of America, by
(53)
54
THE TO PS FIELD ACADEMY.
C. A. Mooar; Arnold, the traitor, by M. H. Dorman; John
Q. Adams, by J. W. Porter; Dr. Kane, by C. Fowler; Rev-
olutions, by T. K. Cole ; Earth’s benefactors, by M. V. B. Per-
ley; Earth’s malefactors, by Geo. L. Blanchard; Skepticism,
by D. T. Ames. The following had compositions: — Misses
S. A. Chamberlin, J. K. Noyes, S. M. Ray, M. M. Thomp-
son, M. A. Hoyt, H. E. Peabody, C. A. Berry, C. C. Pea-
body, M. E. Choate, R. P. Balch, R. P. Perley, E. B. Perley,
A. P. Kimball, C. W. Woodbury. The program concluded
with a colloquy, “Home Government,” written by the stu-
dents— Misses M. Low, L. D. Hardy and M. A. C. Noyes.
The rhetorical program of Nov. io, 1858, was: — Declama-
tion, by Hamilton Temple; Orations — Dr. Livingstone, by
A. M. Merriam ; Object of our mission, by J. W. Perkins;
The power of knowledge, by N. D. Dodge, jr. ; Enthusiasm,
by C. A. Mooar; Jephtha’s daughter, by Geo. F. Flint; The
nobility and responsibility of the teacher’s vocation, by J. K.
Cole; Reform, by Clarence Fowler; Moral force the only
instrument of freedom, by M. V. B. Perley; Young America,
by H. G. Rollins; and the reading of the school paper, “ The
Laural Wreath ,” by Misses Abbie R. Cole and Rebecca K.
Bixby, Clarence Fowler, editor.
These exercises were always interspersed with music, gen-
erally by a hired orchestra, sometimes by the school talent.
Prof. Allis came to Topsfield with an experience of some
seven or eight years. He was a good teacher and disciplin-
arian. His want of health was the only impediment to good
rank among noted teachers. He was tall and slim ; his con-
figuration and movements betokened insidious disease. He
had a deep voice and was an excellent bass singer. His
voice was cultured and he excelled as a reader. He was a
good scholar, critical in the recitation and apt in his
illustrations. His manner was pleasing; his conversation,
entertaining; his social life, unblamable; and remembrance
of him is pleasant indeed.
Mr. Allis was born in Brookfield, Vt., July 27, 1825, to Elisha
and Mary (Steele) Allis. While at home he attended the dis-
trict school and the academy at Randolph. His preparation
for college was completed at Thetford Academy. He en-
tered Williams College, and during this second year re-
OBEDIAH D. ALLIS.
55
turned home sick, where he remained an invalid for a year.
He received the honorary degree of A. M., from the Univer-
sity of Vermont. He taught a year in Barre Academy,
under J. S. Spaulding; then at Vergennes some two or three
years. While at Vergennes he married Miss Ann Eliza Colt,
of Brookfield. Subsequently he taught at Chelsea perhaps
four or five years ; then at Topsfield. From here he went
to Randolph Centre, Vt., where he preached three or four
years ; thence to West Randolph where he preached about
five years. The state of his health was to him, all the while,
a source of anxiety and expense, and an impediment in his
work. At last his active life closed; in 1866 he repaired to
Danielsonville, N. Y., for treatment at that noted water-cure.
He died there in June, 1867, nearly forty-two years old. His
disease was chronic rheumatism, culminating in congestion
of the lungs. He was buried in West Randolph. Thus per-
ished an active life, a generous heart, a noble purpose, a
Christian man.
The Lyceum, so popular with Principal Conant’s and
Principal Healy’s schools, was fully sustained during Mr.
Allis’ principalship. Citizens participated in and enjoyed
the occasions. The students regarded it a part of their
school life, and prepared for it, in the main, as for a recita-
tion, or the weekly rhetorical exercises.
The first Lyceum of which we have any record was organ-
ized on Dec. 24, 1856. The members were J. Brown,
J. Pike, A. M. Trask, E. W. Pert, A. E. Baker, T. F. Towne,
J. E. Leonard, M. H. Dorman, M. V. B. Perley, C. M. Boyd,
J. W. Porter, J. G. Colt, Geo. L. Blanchard, A. D. Pearson,
W. T. McQuestion and James Ingalls.
Prof. Allis, principal of the school called the meeting to
order. Towne was voted president, pro tern. ; Colt, secre-
tary, pro tern. Brown, Blanchard, Dorman, committee to
draft constitution and by-laws. Dec. 31. Blanchard was
voted president, pro tern. ; Colt secretary, pro tern. ; con-
stitution and by-laws adopted. The former authorized pri-
marious, president, vice-president, secretary; the latter, this
order of business: reading minutes of last meeting, declama-
tions, discussions, miscellaneous business, reading of school-
paper, appointment of editors, readers, and judges of dis-
cussions as to force of argument.
56
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
The principal was primarius and embodied all final author-
ity. Teachers were ex-officio members, and lady-students
at their option. Male members signed constitution and by-
laws and paid the bills, (perhaps 25 cents per term.) Jan.
7, 1857. Blanchard and Colt were voted again pro tern.
Constitutional officers by ballot: Boyd, president; M. V. B.
Perley, vice-president ; Colt, secretary. Boyd and Joslin,
affirmative, and Towne and Colt, negative, discussed “Is a
nation justified in rising against its rulers?” and the judges
gave the better argument to the affirmative. Jan. 14. Brown
and Towne, affirmative, and Blanchard and Leonard, nega-
tive, discussed “Does wealth exert a greater influence than
education?” which was decided in the affirmative. Jan. 28.
Towne and Joslin, affirmative, and A. D. Pearson and J. E.
Pike, negative: “Are railroads an advantage or disadvant-
age to a country?” The affirmative won.
Spring term, 1857. March 11. Members : D. T. Ames, G.
A. Ames, J. C. Colt, J. W. Porter, G. L. Blanchard, S. P.
Fowler, jr., C. M. Boyd, A. D. Pearson, G. E. Joslin, S. A.
Merriam, N. T. Kimball, M. V. B. Perley. D. T. Ames was
voted president; S. P. Fowler, jr., vice-president; G. E. Jos-
lin, secretary. Pearson declaimed. Kimball and Fowler,
affirmative, and Porter and Perley, negative: “Resolved, that
the mariner’s compass has been more beneficial to man than
the printing press.” Negative won. March 16. Blanchard
and Perley declaimed. Fowler and Boyd, affirmative, and
Gleason and Colt, negative : “Is a man the arbiter of his own
fortune?” Affirmative won. Misses Batchelder and Perley
read “The Iris,” A. D. Pearson, editor. March 23. Colt and
Gleason declaimed. Porter and Joslin, affirmative, and G.
A. Ames and Towne, negative: “Was Washington a greater
man than Columbus?” Affirmative won. March 30. Pear-
son declaimed. Blanchard and D. T. Ames, affirmative, and
Merriam and Gleason, negative : “Should non-intervention
be the policy of the U. S. ?” Affirmative prevailed. Misses
Thurston and Rogers read “The Iris,” G. A. Ames, editor.
April 6. Perley and Joslin declaimed. Fowler and Towne,
affirmative, and Kimball and Porter, negative: “Should the
sale of intoxicating liquors be prohibited by law?” April
13. G. A. Ames and Gleason, affirmative, and H. O. Wiley,
THE SCHOOL LYCEUM.
57
negative: “Is the progress of the present age greater than
that of past ages?” Affirmative won. Misses E. F. and H.
M. Kimball read “The Iris,” Gleason, editor. April 20.
Kimball and Porter, affirmative, and Joslin and Towne, nega-
tive : “Is ambition the cause of more good than evil?”
Misses Chamberlain and P'arrar read “The Iris.” April 27.
Fowler and Fong declaimed. Porter and Kimball, affirma-
tive, and Gleason and D. T. Ames, negative: “Is a republi-
can form of government more stable than a monarchial one ?”
Misses Wells and Towne read “The Iris,” Perley, editor.
Winter term, 1857-8. Dec. 3. Members: J. W. Porter,
D. F. Towne, M. H. Dorman, W. F. Putnam, G. H. Peabody,
A. F. Smith, A. A. Fowler, C. W. Peart, J. N. Smith, S. T.
J. Byam, L. W. Green, W. S. Merrill, B. A. Shute, P. S.
Farnsworth, J. A. Friend, G. D. Richards, C. Porter, J. R.
Jackson, Jos. Ridgway, E. F. Esty, H. Temple, M. A. Kent,
L. L. Robbins, E. F. Creesy, A. M. Merriam, H. L. Long, J.
H. Towne, S. Fuller, J. C. Bancroft, D. G. Upton, N. A. Pike,
J. Swinerton, W. H. Preston, W. P. Hutchinson, S. Noyes.
J. W. Porter was voted president, pro tern. ; Dorman, secre-
tary, pro tern. ; Dorman, D. F. Towne, W. L. Putnam, a
committee on constitution and by-laws. Dec. 9, constitution
and by-laws were adopted. J. W. Porter was voted presi-
dent; D. F. Towne, vice-president ; M. H. Dorman, secre-
tary. Dec. 1 6. Dorman and Shute declaimed. Putnam
and Green, affirmative, and Dorman and Noyes, negative :
“Is a skillful politician better fitted for a president of the U. S.
than a skillful general?” Affirmative was victor. Dec. 23.
Jackson and J. W. Porter declaimed. J. W. Porter and Farns-
worth, affirmative, and Ridgway and Peabody, negative: “Is
the fear of punishment a greater incentive to exertion than the
hope of reward?” Valorous, affirmative! Misses Peabody
and A. P. Kimball read “The Iris,” Dorman, editor. Dec.
30. Town and Shute declaimed. W. L. Putnam and Robbins,
affirmative, and Noyes and Jackson, negative: “Does the
constitution of these U. S. conflict with American slavery?”
Valorous, negative ! Jan. 6. Farnsworth and Dorman de-
claimed. S. Fuller and A. F. Smith, affirmative, and Dor-
man and Ridgway, negative : “Is a republican government
better to live under than a monarchy?” Negative won.
58
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
Jan. 13, 1858. Friend, Putnam, C. Porter declaimed. Pope
and Dorman, affirmative, and D. F. Towne and W. L. Put-
nam, negative: “Is novel reading deleterious to the public
mind?” Jan. 27. C. Porter and Putnam declaimed. Ridg-
way and Dorman, affirmative, and Swinerton and W. L. Put-
nam, negative: “Is man the arbiter of his own fortune?”
Negative won. Misses Woodbury and Low read “The Iris,”
Pope, editor. Feb. 10. Farnsworth, Green, J. W. Porter,
Temple, Dorman declaimed. Pope and C. Porter, affirma-
tive, and J. W. Porter and Temple negative : “Has science
accomplished more than physical strength?” Affirmative
won. Misses Thurston and E. F. Kimball read “The Iris,”
D. F. Towne, editor.
Spring term, 1858. Feb. 22. Members: D. F. Ames, C.
A. Mooar, Geo. L. Blanchard, L. L. Robbins, H. Temple, J.
Ridgway, J. R. Jackson, Asbury Osgood, Myron R. Hutchin-
son, J. E. Leonard, J. C. Lavalette, J. K. Cole, N. D. Dodge,
B. Alward Shute, J. Wright Perkins, S. Noyes, M. V. B. Per-
ley. D. T. Ames was voted moderator, pro tern. ; C. Fowler,
secretary, pro tern. ; and D. F. Towne, Perley, C. Fowler, a
committee on constitution and by-laws. Blanchard was
chosen editor of “The Iris.” J. K. Cole and J. E. Leonard
were chosen president and vice-president for one week.
March 1. Constitution and by-laws were adopted. C. Fow-
ler and Leonard, affirmative, and N. D. Dodge and Mooar,
negative: “Is the pen mightier than the sword?” Affirma-
tive won. Misses Kimball and Towne read “The Iris,” Blan-
chard, editor. Permanent officers: Ridgway, secretary; J.
K. Cole, president ; G. L. Blanchard, vice-president. March
8. Meech and Mooar declaimed. Blanchard and D. T.
Ames, affirmative, and C. Fowler and Jackson, negative :
“Which exerts the greater influence in the world, man or
woman?” Affirmative won. Misses Noyes read “The Iris.”
March 15. Blanchard and Lavalette declaimed. Leonard
and D. T. Ames, affirmative, and Dodge and Cole, negative:
“Are the works of nature more admired than the works of
art?” Affirmative carried the argument. Misses Cole and
Lamson read “The Iris.” March 22. Leonard and Jackson
declaimed. Perley and Ridgway, affirmative, and Robbins
and A. H. Meech, negative: “Does wealth exert a greater
THE SCHOOL LYCEUM.
59
influence than education?” Affirmative won. Misses Cush-
ing and Perkins read “The Iris.” March 29. Temple and
Hutchinson declaimed. Noyes and Mooar, affirmative, and
Lavalette and Jackson, negative : “Has the mariner’s com-
pass been of more benefit to man than the printing-press?”
Negative won. April 5. J. W. Perkins and D. T. Ames, af-
firmative, and Blanchard and , negative: “Are politi-
cal parties beneficial to a State?” Affirmative conquered.
“The Iris” was postponed and Henry G. Rollins, of Grove-
land, lectured on “The intelligent and enterprising American.”
April 12. Perkins and Cole declaimed. Cole and J. W.
Porter, affirmative, and Ridgway and Leonard, negative:
“Was Wellington a greater man than Bonaparte?” Affirma-
tive won. Misses Adams and Ober read “The Iris,” Cole,
editor.
(Several pages are here missing.)
Fall term, 1859. Sept. 11. Members: Hamilton Temple,
Bartlett H. Weston, Geo. E. Weaver, J. Welch Porter, Ed-
ward B. Putnam, J. W. Perkins, Wm. H. Dalton. Porter was
voted president ; Temple, scribe ; Geo. T. Welch, vice-presi-
dent. Appointments: Geo. E. Warner, to declaim; Per-
kins, affirmative, and Weston, negative: “Should we obey a
law which we think to be morally wrong?” Minnie L. Put-
nam and Hattie Dorman, readers, and Welch, editor. Sept.
21. Warner declaimed; Perkins and Weston discussed, and
“judged in the negative.” Oct. 5. John W. Porter and E.
B. Putnam declaimed. Warner, affirmative, and Welch, neg-
ative : “Is the mind of woman inferior to that of man?”
Negative had the argument. Misses Hattie Dorman and
Minnie L. Putnam read “The Topsfield News,” Welch, edi-
tor. Oct. 12. Misses Reed and Weston read “The News,”
Flint, editor. Edward E. Putnam was tried for and found
guilty of the murder of Sparticus. He was sentenced to be
hanged by the arms till the rope broke “The execution oc-
cupied just one second.” Oct. 19. Misses Fairfield and
Eaton read “The News,” Perkins, editor. Perkins, affirma-
tive, and Porter, negative: “Is the hope of reward a greater
incentive than the fear of punishment?” Nov. 2. Otis F.
Dodge, affirmative, and Geo. E. Nichols, negative: “Re-
6o
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
solved, that wealth exerts a greater influence than education?”
Affirmative won. Misses Howe and Fairfield read “The
Laural Wreath,” J. W. Perkins, editor.
Spring term, i860. Feb. 29. Constitution of 1856 was
adopted. J. Adams was chosen president; Jos. P. Wonson,
secretary. March 7. “An eloquent discussion:” — J. W.
Perkins, B. Weston, Otis F. Dodge, affirmative, and
Gen. Cole, J. P. Wonson, negative : “Resolved, that the
so-called strikes now being made by the shoemakers of sur-
rounding towns will be a benefit?” Otis F. Dodge was-
chosen president ; John W. Perkins, vice-president ; Jos. P.
Wonson, secretary.
Mrs. Mary Amanda Jones, preceptress, was educated at
Newbury Seminary, Vermont. She came to this school a
talented and finely educated teacher. Her gentle manners
and kindly disposition won the respect of all, and the love of
those in her immediate care. She was tall, and a lady of
commanding figure, which, supplemented by her gentle man-
ners, gave her a presence remarkably suggestive of Virgil’s
“ qua incedo regina .” She remained with the school till the
close of the year 1858-9.
Mrs. Jones was born in Sutton, Vt., July 5, 1830, to Phoebe
Fletcher and Rev. Elisha Brown. She married, Oct. 20, 1852,
Edwin Alonzo Jones, M. D., and two years later was left a
widow. For twelve years thereafter she was engaged in
teaching in public schools and high-grade seminaries, at
Springfield, Vt., Amenia, N. Y., Topsfield and Auburndale,
Mass.
After leaving Auburndale, she married, in Berlin, Vt.,
July 22, 1866, Rev. Rodney Howland Howard, D. D., of the
N. E. Conference, and pastor of the M. E. Church, in Mon-
son, Mass. She died in Franklin, Mass., April 12, 1892.
Dr. Howard married, second, Mrs. Susan Cheney Jones,
widow of Loren Washburn Jones, merchant, West Somer-
ville, and daughter of Adolphus and Susan (Tenney) Tenney,
undertaker and dealer in furniture, Windsor, Vt. Dr. How-
ard died Jan. 3, 1897.
Lysander T. Burbank was an assistant to Mr. Allis during
the summer term of 1857.
Mr. Burbank was born in Fitzwilliam, N. H., Nov. 24,
AUSTIN HAZEN.
6 1
1828, to John and Hannah (Lyon) Burbank. His father
was a farmer. He graduated at Williams College, 1857, and
at Union Theological Seminary, New York City, i860. He
married Sarah Susannah Van Vlack of New York City, and
in July of the same year he sailed from Boston under ap-
pointment as missionaries of the A. B. C. F. M., to Turkey,
on the barque Smyrniote, for Smyrna, laden with a cargo of
New England rum, and missionaries as passengers, arriving at
Bitlis in Oct., i860. They gave up their foreign work finally
on account of ill-health, and returned to America in 1870.
The work in Turkey resulted in establishing several flourish-
ing churches and schools, and in training young men and
women for teachers and preachers, and correlative labor. He
says, “it was the greatest trial of my life to leave that blessed
work.” In his preparation for the work he attended a course
of medical lectures in New York City, and also dispensary prac-
tice, receiving “A Certificate of Honor,” conferring the title
of Dr.
He became pastor of a church in Herndon, Va., in 1871 ;
removing in 1880 to Georgetown, Neb., to become pastor of
the Burr Oak Presbyterian church. He was there in 1890.
They have (1890) six children living. One reposes in
Bitlis, dying Jan., 1864; another in Herndon, dying J11I3",
1874. Their oldest, Frederic L., is an M. D., and practicing
in Hooper, Neb., and the oldest daughter, Mary S., married
David Montgomery, a graduate of Hastings College and
engaged in Y. M. C. A. work, but hoping to go a missionary
to China.
Austin Hazen, Prof. Allis’s assistant, was born in Hartford,
Vt., Feb. 14, 1835, to Rev. Austin and Lucia (Washburn)
Hazen. He went with his father’s family to Berlin, at the
age of three years. He fitted for college at home and at St.
Johnsbury Academy, graduating at the University of Ver-
mont, Burlington, in 1855. Taught one year in Barre Acad-
emy, and graduated at the Theological Seminary, Andover,
Mass., in 1859. During his first year at Andover he taught the
spring term of the Topsfield Academy. Mr. Allis was an
invalid and the work of the principal came mostly upon Mr.
Hazen. After graduation, he preached at Norwich, Vt.,
from 1859 to 1864; then at Jericho Centre, Vt., from 1864
62
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
to 1884. He began to preach also in Richmond, Vt., in 1875.
In 1884, he removed to Richmond, where he completed his
life work. He was two years superintendent of schools in
Norwich, and two in Jericho. His sickness was long and
painful, and though accompanied by severe sufferings caused
by repeated attempts of the surgeons to bring relief, he
uttered no word of complaint. He died May 22, 1895, while
on a passage to Europe, and was buried at sea, in the bosom
of “old gray ocean.”
He married Feb. 12, 1862, Mary Jane Carleton, who was
born in October, 1840, to Mary Wheeler and David Carle-
ton, a farmer, of Barre, Vt. She died April 18, 1880, in Jer-
icho Centre. He married, 2nd, in Keeseville, N. Y., June 1,
1881, Almira Farrington Elliot, who was born Feb. 21, 1838,
to Eliza Hall and Ezra Elliot, a farmer, of Croydon, N. H.
His first wife was mother of all his children, seven sons
and one daughter, Mary Carleton, who was born July 20,
1875, and died the next January. The seven sons have
graduated in the course in arts at the University of Vermont.
Four have graduated from the Hartford, Ct., Theological
Seminary and are in the Congregational ministry. Austin,
born Sept. 20, 1863, who received the seminary fellowship
for two years’ study in Germany, 1893 to 1895; Carleton,
born June 14, 1865 ; Frank William, born Jan. 7, 1869, and
William, born Nov. 3, 1870. Two are physicians. Allen,
born May 12,1867, a graduate of the College of Physicians
and Surgeons of New York, and Robert, born Dec. 2, 1872,
a graduate in medicine at the University of Vermont; and
Tracy, born July 4, 1874, will complete his post-graduate
studies in science, at Columbia College, 1899. This is a re-
markable family in its obvious aspect. The father is work-
ing now in the field ready for harvest with seven-fold oppor-
tunity and power.
At college, his scholarship ranked with the best; at the
seminary, he was one of the best Hebraists; as a minister,
“he kept his science of religion properly in the background,
but his instructions and counsels were never inconsistent with
the logical framework which underlay all his thinking;” as a
man, his scholarship, his utterances, his amiableness and de-
meanor were hardly noticed in their individuality. In this
CHARLES MORGAN PIERCE.
63
regard he was peculiar; the traits of his character were most
happily blended, no one was unduly prominent, each seemed
designed to perfect the rest; his character was a constella-
tion, like the sweet influence of the Pleiades, and cultivated
friendship, molded character, inculcated principle, inspired
love; and because the influence was all unconscious to giver
and receiver, it was the more potent. His life though hum-
ble was forceful, and though it was circumscribed in action,
it was unbounded in influence.
Charles Morgan Pierce, assisted Mr. Allis in 1857-8. He
says, “Mr. Allis was the principal, but owing to his illness the
school for the greater part of the year was in my hands.”
Mr. Pierce was born Oct. 18, 1834, to Erastus and Sophia
(Morgan) Pierce, in Hinsdale, Mass. He studied at Hins-
dale Academy and graduated at Williams College in 1857. He
taught in the Academy one year, 1857-8, and by reason of
Mr. Allis’ feeble health, sustained the burden of the school.
He entered Andover Seminary with the junior class of 1858,
and remained two years, when he was appointed instructor
in mathematics and Latin at his Alma Mater, a position he
held two years. He was licensed to preach by the Berkshire
Northern Association, Oct. 29, i860. He supplied the Con-
gregational Church in Peru six months of 1862. He became
a resident student at Andover, Oct., 1862, and became the
stated supply of the West Boxford church, where he was or-
dained and installed Sept. 2, 1863. He was dismissed July
17, 1867, and the next September accepted the pro tempore
professorship of mathematics in Williams College, which he
held till April, 1868, supplying the while the Congregational
Church at South Williamstown. He was installed at Middle-
field, Mass., July 1, 1868, and resigning on account of ill-
health, was dismissed July 26, 1881. He was acting pastor
at Charlton, from Aug. 20, 1882, to Dec. 6, 1885 ; was pastor
at Hardwick, from Dec. 13, 1885, to April 1, 1890, when he
resigned to accept a pastorate in Auburn, where he now
resides. He has published two funeral discourses, 1864, 1873.
He married in Salem, Mass., Aug. 12, 1863, Elizabeth
Morse Peabody. They have one child, Charles Peabody,
born Oct. 19, 1869, who is now of the class of ’92 academical
department, Yale University.
6 4
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
The following pertinent comment is by Mrs. Morgan :
“Charles H. Pierce taught a year or more, as preceptor for
Mr. Allis, who was in feeble health. Mr. Pierce won the
esteem of all his pupils by his uniform kindness and patience.
He came as an assistant and rather shrank from full charge
of the school, which the Principal’s illness made necessary ;
still his thorough knowledge of all the branches taught, and
easy manners and fluent speaking, made him a very popular
teacher.”
“An old friend of education” wrote thus of the school for
the Salem Gazette , in 1857: —
Topsfield Academy. — The Semi-Annual Examination
of this successful Institution, was on Wednesday, July 15th.
The writer had the pleasure of being present in the afternoon,
and was highly interested. The exercises commenced with
singing by the members of the school, which convinced all
that there was no lack of musical talent. Declamations were
then given by J. H. Byne, of Galveston, Texas; M. V. B.
Perley, of Ipswich; and A. D. Pearson, of Topsfield; all of
whom did credit to themselves and the school.
The Orations, with the subjects, were as follows: — The
Love of Liberty, George P. Flint, North Reading; Strug-
gles, Jefferson K. Cole, Boxford ; Death, Clarence F'owler,
Danvers; Mental Culture, Daniel F. Ames, Vershire, Vt. ;
Influence of Great Men on their Age. Henry G. Rollins,
Georgetown. The Orations were creditable to their writers
and the school. The last one, by H. G. Rollins, would com-
pare favorably with the best productions of College gradu-
ates, and do honor to many men of high pretentions. Next
came the reading of the paper, published by the school.
The Editor, H. G. Rollins, introduced Miss Abbie Cole, of
Topsfield, and Miss Mary Cushing, of Williamstown, as the
readers , who interested those present, for the space of half
an hour, with rich gems of thought and wit, causing many a
hearty laugh.
We next listened to the reading of essays by the following
ladies of the graduating class: — Cornelia M. Thurston, of
Vershire, Vt. ; Margaret A. Hoyt, Georgetown ; Charlotte
A. Perkins and Ellen F. Kimball, of Topsfield. The essays
were finely written and very pleasing. The one by Miss
“A FRIEND TO EDUCATION.”
65
Kimball, on the Marriage of the Hemispheres, was particu-
larly good, being written in an easy, natural style, and well
read.
At the close of the exercises, Diplomas were presented to
those graduating, with appropriate remarks, by the worthy
and able Principal, O. D. Allis, A. M.
Topsfield Academy has a fine location, and we were happy
to find the school in such a flourishing condition. Although
we were told by the Principal that the past term had not
been so fully attended as previous terms, yet the school was
in a healthy and promising state, and as long as its present
Board of Teachers remain, we have high hopes of its success.
“A friend to education” chronicled the following of the
Academy in Nov., 1858: — It was our good fortune, two days
last week, to attend the quarterly examination of the Tops-
field Academy, and it was very pleasant for us to witness the
appearance of success, which crowned the labor of the teach-
ers and students. The degree of proficiency exhibited by the
classes in Greek, Latin and French, was highly creditable,
but the rhetorical Exercise, which was during the afternoon
of Wednesday, was particularly interesting. The exercise
consisted of Orations from a large part of the gentlemen,
and the reading of the Laurel Wreath, a literary journal
consisting mostly of compositions from the ladies of the In-
stitution. The order of the exercises was as follows: —
Orations were delivered by A. M. Merriam, subject, “Dr.
Livingstone;” J. W. Perkins, subject, “Objects of our Mis-
sion;” N. D. Dodge, Jr., subject, “The Power of Knowl-
edge;” C. A. Mooar, subject, “Enthusiasm ;” G. F. Flint,
subject, “Jephtha’s Daughter;” J. K. Cole, subject, “The
Nobility and Responsibility of the Teacher’s Vocation;”
Clarence Fowler, subject, “Reform;” M. V. B. Perley, sub-
ject, “Moral Force the only Instrument of Freedom;” H. G.
Rollins, subject, “Young America.” Music, of a high order,
was listened to, consisting of pieces sung by a select choir,
between the delivery of the Orations. After the speaking,
the “Laurel Wreath,” edited by Clarence Fowler, was read
by the Editresses, Miss Abbie R. Cole, and Miss Rebecca
K. Bixby. The contributions to the paper displayed marked
talent, and were highly creditable to the ladies. The style
66
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
in which the orations were written, and delivered, showed
that the gentlemen had talent, which might be profitably
cultivated. The one entitled “Jephtha’s Daughter,” was
spoken in such a manner, that we could almost seem to see
the Maiden kneeling before the Chief of Israel, to receive
her death-blow ; and another entitled, “The Nobility and
Responsibility of the Teacher’s Vocation,” contained thoughts
which all teachers might well think of. The oration of Mr.
Perley displayed much “Moral Force,” both in diction, and
delivery, and that of Mr. Rollins, reminded us forcibly that
“Young America” had honorably exerted himself, in
thought and speech.
We regret to learn that the highly-esteemed Principal, Mr.
Allis, and the Preceptress, Miss Brooks, an inestimable
teacher, are called to another field of action. We under-
stand that Mr. A. I. Dutton, an experienced teacher, is to
take charge of the Academy, in the place of Mr. Allis. We
recommend all who take an interest in institutions of the
kind, to patronize Mr. Dutton, who appears a stranger in
Topsfield, and a laborer in the noblest of all causes, the Im-
provement of the Mind.
ALBERT IRA DUTTON.
Prof. A. I. Dutton followed Principal Allis. He began with
the winter term of 1858-9, and taught five consecutive
terms. During his first year he had one hundred and twen-
ty-one students, with an average per term of forty-nine.
Mrs. Mary A. Jones was his preceptress and Miss Helen A.
Reed, assistant. J. W. Porter and J. B. Putnam were assist-
ants the summer term of 1859; Geo. F. Flint and Miss Lu-
cie R. Weston the fall term of the same year. Prof. Downes,
jr., gave instruction on the piano. Miss Sarah D. McMillan,
a graduate of Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, N. H., and
an experienced teacher, succeeded Mrs. Jones’ resignation,
at the end of the year 1858-9. About i860, commercial
colleges began, and local high schools, with their attractions
and advantages, more or less real. Georgetown was able to
appropriate more for the recognized ability of the Academy
principal than the earning capacity of the Academy could
offer, and he left at the end of the winter term of that year.
ALBERT IRA DUTTON.
67
The program of the exhibition at Union Hall, Thursday
evening, May 5, 1859, consisted of tableaux, dialogues, ora-
tions, recitations, an original colloquy and music. The Latin
Salutatory (Oratis Salutoria) was pronounced by Arthur M.
Merriam, and the valedictory, a poem, by M. B. V. Perley.
These orations were given : Energy, Earnestness and Perse-
verance, by N. D. Dodge, jr. ; Foresight, by John W. Per-
kins; The Spirit of Freedom, by B. H. Weston. The reci-
tations: The Gambler’s Wife, by Carrie E. Batchelder, and
The Lay of the Madman, by J. B. Putnam. There were six
dialogues. The colloquy was original and written by the
Preceptress, Miss Helen A. Reed.
This exhibition was among the most attractive known in
the history of the school. The hall was crowded ; the pre-
sentations were most pleasing ; everybody was more than
gratified ; and immediately following the conclusion, a mo-
tion came from the audience, that the program be repeated
the following evening, which was unanimously voted.
Mr. Dutton was born in Stowe, Vt., Aug. 5, 1831, to Ira
and Emeline (Dutton) Dutton, a farmer. He graduated at
Middlebury College, 1858, and taught that fall in North Troy,
Vt. His next field was at Topsfield, then a year at George-
town. He studied a year or more at Hartford, Ct., and com-
pleted his divinity course at Andover, where he graduated,
1863. That year he was ordained and installed pastor of
the Congregational church at Shirley, Mass. He remained
there six years, till 1869. In the latter year he was installed
at East Longmeadow, Mass., where he served till July, 1885.
He then visited the west, for his health, and previous to Oct.
1, 1885, preached in Marshall, Minn. He began preaching
in Royalton, Vt., in Oct., 1885, and in Sept., 1 886, was in-
stalled pastor. In 1887, he received a carriage accident ow-
ing to which he was unable to preach, and Oct. 1, retired
from the pastorate to become superintendent of the Home for
Aged and Disabled Ministers, at South Framingham, Mass.
He was several years a Trustee of Monson Academy.
In 1880 he sustained a severe accident by being run over
by a loaded team. From this he never fully recovered. He
was unable, for a long time, fully to attend to the duties of
his pastorate. But for five years he remained with his par-
68
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
ish, “accomplishing some of his best work and bringing a
goodly number into the church.” The last accident unfitted
him for parochial duties, and he accepted a call to superin-
tend the Minister’s Home. He had been there three years
when the Home was discontinued. Mr. Dutton, however,
continued to reside in the place, and during the time had
several calls to pastorates ; but for want of health felt obliged
to decline them. He was building a residence for himself
and family at the time of his death. His last sickness was
only of fifty-eight hours duration. He preached for his son,
the Sunday before, in Ashland. He passed away very sud-
denly, in his sleep, of heart-failure, a result of la grippe, Feb.
I3> 1892.
Mr. Dutton’s wife was Miss Helen Abby Reed, his assistant
in the school at Topsfield. She was born May 6, 1838, to
Jacob Whittemore, a lawyer, and Ruhannah Burbank (Ten-
ney) Reed, of Groveland. Their marriage was at Groveland,
Oct. 29, 1863. Their children were born: Charles Henry,
Jan. 26, 1865 ; Emily Helen, Sept. 29, 1869; Mary Almira,
Oct. 31, 1871, and died aged one year, five months; Albert
Ira, Sept. 4, 1877. Charles is a graduate of Amherst and
pastor in Wilton, N. H. Emily graduated at Mt. Holyoke
College, took her master’s degree at Radcliffe College, Cam-
bridge, and is instructor in Latin at Vassar College.
Mrs. Morgan thus concludes a very interesting reminis-
cence which we have digested through these pages: — “Very
few resident students studied in school, all must attend devo-
tional exercises in the morning, which consisted of scripture
reading, prayer, and singing a hymn by a select choir of the
scholars; then pupils went to their various homes for study,
returning at hours designated ; discipline required the in-
coming classes to be promptly at hand, when the bell rang
at the close of each recitation.
Looking back to those days we can but exclaim ‘What an
excellent corps of teachers taught in the old academy!’
Years have passed since we saw them, but their influence and
example are still seen and felt in the lives and labors of those
they instructed, now scattered throughout the world. The
years have also changed the old building; its halls still echo
the tread of scholars, but not after the old plan. The laugh-
MISS SARAH DANA MCMILLAN. 6 9
ter of merry children and youth is heard on the hill, but in
them we see only the forms and faces of other days.”
MISS SARAH DANA MCMILLAN.
Miss McMillan was Prof. Dutton’s preceptress, during his
last term. She had graduated at Kimball Union Academy,
Meriden, N. H., and had taught three years in the Academy
at Plattsburgh, N. Y., and then in the Pinkerton Academy,
Derry, N. H. She came to this school, a lady of valuable
experience, of cultured talents, and apt ability to impart in-
struction. Her social life and pleasing manners endeared
her to pupils and people, and after Mr. Dutton left, she re-
mained, at the urgent • request of friends, and taught, on her
own account, during the following summer.
She was the daughter of Hon. Andrew and Emily (Dana)
McMillan, born May 12, 1836, at Danville, Vt. Her mother
was a lineal descendant of Gen. Israel Putnam. In July,
1865, she married Rev. E. G. Parsons, pastor of the First,
now Central, Congregational Church, of Derry i Mr. Parsons
was ten years principal of Dummer Academy, having his
election in 1882. They now reside in Derry. Mrs. Parsons
writes: — “My memories are most pleasant of the genial, hos-
pitable people, who then were active in church and society,
and extended their kind ministrations to ‘the stranger within
the gate’.”
CHAPTER VI.
THE ACADEMY EDIFICE.
ITS LATENT LIFE AND MEED OF PRAISE.
Thus far we have followed the use of the building, have
noted the principal teachers in their order, and most of the
assistant principals, have recorded enough of their lives to
show their enterprise, their moral force, their natural ability
and education, their citizenship and Christian worth, — and
it remains to speak of the structure itself.
The property was insured the years 1828, 1829, 1830, for
$1500. The years 1831 and 1832 for $1000. Jacob Towne,
jr., was treasurer, except in 1832, when R. A. Merriam
served. The insurance was payable, in case of loss, to Solo-
mon Wildes, of Boston, mortgagee. In 1833, the insurance
permitted the use of the building on Sundays for religious
meetings.
Solomon Wildes and his wife, Ruth B., of Boston, trans-
ferred all their right, title and interest in the property, June
10, 1 846, for the amount of the first insurance, $1 500, to Samuel
Rea, of Portsmouth. These men were landlords. The form-
er was located on Elm street, and the place was long known
as “Wildes’ Hotel.” Mr. Wildes’ interest included eighty-
eight undivided hundredth parts ; the remaining twelve un-
divided hundredth parts, belonging to Susan Cummings, of
Topsfield, and Frederick Perley of Danvers, were not con-
veyed.
Samuel Rea and his wife Sarah A. C., of Portsmouth, sold
their interest in the property for $800, by deed dated Oct.
15, 1846, to the persons named in the following schedule:
A. S. Peabody, ten shares; Robert S. Perkins, four; J.
P. Towne, two; Mary Towne, three; Abigail Perkins, two;
Thomas L. Lane, two; Hannah Perkins, one; Isaac N.
(70)
TRANSFERS OF THE PROPERTY.
7
Averill, one. There were twenty-five shares valued at $25
each, and included the same Rea purchased of Wildes.
To these proprietors Susan Cummings quit-claimed her
interest in the property Nov. 16, 1846, for $1. Frederick
Perley sold his interest to the same parties Dec. 15, 1846,
for $56. J. W. Healy purchased the property of the propri-
etors July 22, 1854, for $800. The signatures on the deed
to Healy are: Augustine S. Peabody, Robert S. Perkins,
Mary J. Perkins, Isaac N. Averill, Israel Rea, John G. Hood,
Thomas L. Lane, J. P. Towne, R. C. Towne, Mary Towne,
2d, Hannah Perkins and Helena Peabody. J. W. Healy and
his wife Jane C., of Gardner, conveyed their interests Nov.
23, 1858, for $1000, to Albert Ira Dutton, who was then
principal of the school.
From A. I. Dutton the title passed to Asahel Huntington,
clerk of courts, of Salem, and Jacob W. Reed, attorney-at-
law, of Groveland, and April 17, 1865, they relinquished
their claims — Huntington for $1 and Reed for $1050, to Jer-
emiah Balch and Ephraim P. Peabody. Peabody sold to
Balch, Jan. 17, 1868, for $600, and Balch conveyed the
property to the town of Topsfield, March 6, 1868, for $1450.
P'or some time between 1865 and 8 the building was used as
a dwelling.
The town immediately converted the building into a school-
house. The number of scholars had increased beyond the
capacity of the modest structure on the common, and the
“Topsfield Academy” became the “Centre school-house of
Topsfield.”
The mission of this property, dedicated so solemnly on
May 7, 1828, by the earnest devotion of the whole commu-
nity, in the joyous anticipation of long life and eternal good ;
the mission of able and devoted teachers in helping supply
the world with cultured intellects and correct and stable prin-
ciples could not die. Callimachus of ancient time, wrote: —
“The good never die.”
For several years the town had felt the imperative need of
ampler and better accommodations for her scholars. The
old worn floors and doors, the palsied windows and wood
stoves, afforded no security for health and gave no promise
72
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
for comfort to the scholars, and the furniture and appoint-
ments were inadequate to the needs. In the summer of
1889, all was changed; the old institution as a member of
America’s unique and grand common school system, took a
new lease of life. The front of the building was changed
from the south to the west; the old ante-rooms and stair-
ways were removed ; and the entire building as it formerly
stood made into four school-rooms, ample for forty or fifty
students each. Each room has a cherry-wood floor, has for
teacher and scholars desks of beautiful Michigan wood, has
large, fine wall-slates, and has an even hot water heat radiat-
ing from the window sides of the rooms. The front, now
upon the west, is a portico, 39 feet wide and projecting from
the main building 14 feet. Beneath it is the heater; within
it are four ante-rooms and the broad stairways. It is entered
from the south, the north, and in front. The ventilation of
the rooms is complete. Too much cannot be said in praise
of this amended structure. No town of equal wealth in the
county can boast or be proud of a better one. It may have
cost much, but it is the equivalent of the cost, and will con-
tinue modern and adequate in all respects, a joy and comfort
to the student, a conservator of health and learning, and the
just pride of every patriotic citizen, for fifteen or twenty
years, without additional cost. The building committee
were: S. D. Hood, J. B. Poor, B. P. Edwards, D. Bradstreet
and B. P. Pike.
The individuality of the Academy dissolved, in i860, at
the age of thirty-two years. She had survived her sisters,
except the female Academies at Ipswich and Andover — not
a survival of the fittest that we know of, but she was among
the last survivors of a peerage, whose demise any community
may rightly, truly mourn.
That she had several attacks of “innocuous desuetude” is
no derogation from her fair fame or noble worth. As well
question the grace and force of Christianity, because there
were the Dark Ages; or great Homer’s place among poets,
because
“* * * Homer’s self sometimes, they say,
Took to his night-cap on the way.”
THE PRINCIPALS OF THE ACADEMY.
73
This institution is to be judged by what she was and what
she did.
Her principal teachers were nineteen in number — seven-
teen gentlemen and two ladies. Of the men, seven graduated
at Dartmouth, three at Middlebury, one at Bowdoin, one at
Harvard, one at University of Vermont while four were not
college graduates. Of the latter, one at the age of ten years
was reading Greek in Dummer Academy, and in due time
received from Bowdoin, unasked, the master’s degree in re-
cognition of his classical attainments and proficiency as a
professional teacher; another has given a long life of service
to school and church ; a third with his learned consort
served twenty-nine years in the school- room and after her
decease rounded out for himself a period of forty-five years
of school work ; the other bravely fought disease and labored
in school and church till forty-two years of age.
Marble and Kent died at the ages of thirty-three and
thirty-six years respectively, just entering upon their sphere
of robust, aggressive, brilliant manhood. Of the remaining
fourteen, eleven sealed the books of life at the average age
of seventy-one, and three at the average age of seventy-two
years are living. Long since one of the ladies passed over
to the great majority, and one remains. Of the assistant
principals and preceptresses we have sketched only seven —
men and women bred at college and seminary.
Mark this cluster of stars that shed its salutary influence
upon this Academy like the sweet influence of the Pleiades,
every Pleiad like the facet of some rare gem, attractive by its
own color, and brilliancy and beauty. Not that Gods eter-
nity of space does not abound in clustered sweetness and
activity: we are speaking of our own — men and women of
cultivated talents, of aspiring genius, of exalted character, of
great industry and lofty purpose. The achievements of their
lives, their extended fame, and titled names prove our char-
acterizations true and just. Here they gave the strength of
their young maturity, here budded the promise of their ster-
ling manhood, a noble ambition inspired their toil, fidelity
crowned it with success and, though their terms of service
were comparatively short, their names are remembered by
citizen and pupil alike with praise. Their individuality left
7 4
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
its impress upon the community like the image and super-
scription of a coin, or as the signet of a king.
The course of study — now antiquated — was arranged, as
we have said, for moral culture, mental discipline and practi-
cal life. Therein, is all of it. The mental and moral facul-
ties should be educated together. Eliminate them if you
please, but to the extent of the elimination, the growth is
unnatural. It is easier to err in matters moral than mental ;
the error in most instances is more elusive, and the result is
a thousand times more fatal. In the Academy’s classical
course, the Greek Testament had a place of influence, and
the English course had its Watts on the Mind, its Christian
Evidences and Moral Science. Mr. Vose called his school
together Sunday mornings for religious instruction. Moral
culture was a part of the learning of those days; our times
are certainly not imitators, nor on that account more ex-
cellent.
The mental discipline of the Academy was fundamental ;
it taught the scholar to think consecutively, patiently, criti-
cally; it taught him research — to follow sequences and de-
duce conclusions; it taught him self-reliance in matters of
judgment and descretion — a desideratum in the citizenship
of a republic — and fitted him — yes, to follow, but more
especially — to lead, and also taught that patient labor is the
best of life and garners best results. The idea of the plan
was, that the fewest studies adequate to the end were best
suited to the inexperienced mind of youth ; and it is a serious
question with us, if the professions, scholarship and current
life would not be better served by the old regime than by the
brimming curriculum of the present time.
Old academic life had its social, moral and literary atmos-
phere, the principal his magnetism, the scholar his ideality.
These influences were peculiar to the old academies and col-
leges, and may be emphasized here, since we know so well
the impressive character of the preceptors, and have thereto
the testimony of their pupils. Indeed we are here today in
abeyance of their regal behest. These influences are very,
very seldom, if ever, found in the public schools; they are,
however, among the most important in producing excellence
in scholarship and character. A learned divine and academy
THE INFLUENCE OF THE ACADEMY.
75
trustee, in speaking of the personal character of the Academy
principal, said : — “This influence in many cases was even more
than scholarship, as it had more to do in the building up of
strong, harmonious, and well developed manhood.” How
valuable then, is the combined influence of magnetism, ideal-
ity and atmosphere !
Nearly 800 names of students of this Academy are re-
corded. Ten principals issued no catalogue. The number of
ladies and gentlemen who studied here is safely estimated at
1200. A large proportion of them taught while students,
and thus the individuality of the Academy began to expand.
Some continued the teacher’s profession, some became in-
telligent and progressive farmers, some entered business, in-
spiring enterprise and correcting methods, others became
skillful mechanics, and many studied in higher schools and
entered the professions. The old institution is living today
in the deeds of her children ; the leaven of her polemy is
working through a thousand agencies, building, molding,
guiding, sustaining. In biological language, she is in happy
correspondence with her environment, and her life and work
are everlasting as her environment.
Cried an ancient philosopher: — “Give me where to stand
and with my lever I will move the world.” A problem in
Prof. Greenleaf’s National Arithmetic, by way of illustrating
a principle, calculated the billions upon billions of miles
from a given fulcrum he must stand, and the next problem
calculated the billions of years he must live, to move the
earth one inch.
Cried an ancient philosopher: — “Give me where to stand
and I will move the world,” and Topsfield Academy, by her
life that was and her life that is, exclaims: “Stand where
thou art, and thou shalt indeed move the world, by thy dili-
gence and perseverance, by thy integrity and ability, by thy
learning and culture, by thy sobriety and character — thy
manhood, by thy citizen service and business enterprise, thy
philanthropy and devotion to thy God. — Hail ! blessed poten-
cy, hail !
MAP OF TOPSFI ELD.
1. Town Hall.
2. Congregational Church.
3. Methodist Church.
4. Parson Capen’s House.
5. Pine Grove Cemetery.
6. Site of Asael Smith House.
7. Francis Peabody’s Grist Mill.
8. Spot where lived Sarah Wildes, execut-
ed as a witch, 1692.
9. The Poor Farm.
10. Willow Tree. Geographical Centre of
Essex County.
11. Site of Turnpike Hotel.
12. The Topsfield Academy.
13. Cattle Show Field.
14. Stanwood Home for Children.
15. Agricultural Farm.
16. The Wooden Bridge.
17. The Stone Bridge.
18. The Pingree Mansion House.
19. The Old Toll House.
20. The Crowninshield-Peirce Mansion House.
21. Towne’s Bridge.
22. The Dry Bridge.
(76)
LITERARY EXERCISES.
REUXIOX
TEACHERS AND STUDEXTS.
TOPSEIELD ACADEMY.
AUGUST 12, 1897.
ADDRESS OF WELCOME.
JEFFERSON K. COLE, OF PEABODY, MASS.
Ladies and Gentlemen: — Before I begin my address I
would like to read you a letter written by Professor George
W. Atherton, President of the Pennsylvania State College.
The Pennsylvania State College,
President’s Office.
State College , Centre Co ., Pa.
Mr. George F. Dow, July 21 , 1897.
Topsfield, Mass.
My dear sir: — I very much regret to be compelled to give
up my engagement to meet the old Academy students next
month.* At the time I wrote you last I had not the slight-
est idea that anything could intervene to prevent me from
being with you ; but I find myself obliged to go to Europe,
and shall therefore be out of the country when the Reunion
is held.
^Professor Atherton had accepted an invitation to deliver an address
at this time.
(77)
78
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
The disappointment is a very great one to me, as I had
anticipated a renewal of associations which have been among
the most delightful of my life. My attendance at the Acad-
emy was the first step in my effort to secure a college edu-
cation, and, while the associations then formed have been
broken by long separation, it would be an inexpressible sat-
isfaction to take again by the hand those with whom I spent
so many delightful hours. To the few who will remember
me I wish you would convey my greetings, and to all my
sincere regrets.
Thanking you very much for your courtesy in the matter,
I am
Faithfully yours,
Geo. W. Atherton.
And because of Mr. Atherton’s inability to be here, and
the change necessary in the program, I stand before you at
this time to bid you welcome. So, classmates, schoolmates,
former teachers and pupils, as I look into your faces this
afternoon, changed though they are by the years that have
passed, I see, I think, in each one, a reflection of that which
is in my own heart, and I will say, as so many said this
morning, “I am glad to be here today.” I am glad to be in
Topsfield on this most interesting and auspicious occasion.
We may congratulate ourselves, my friends, on the beau-
tiful day that Providence has given us for this gathering;
and as we have come together, as we have shaken the hands
of those who were our schoolmates so many years ago, and
have renewed those early acquaintances, real joy has come
into our hearts, and I feel that it is a gathering of which
everyone present is glad to be a part.
It is my duty, as well as my privilege, to extend to you,
as members of the Academy, the welcome of those whose
interest and labors of love have made this coming together
a reality. In behalf of Mr. George Francis Dow, to whom
perhaps we are most indebted for this pleasant occasion, I
extend to you a most hearty and cordial welcome.
Associated with him are the later students of the Academy,
and the Historical society of the town, and in their behalf I
extend to you a most cordial welcome.
THE ADDRESS OF WELCOME.
79
And the good old town, I do not know that we have a
special or official representative of the town present, but I
am sure that we have from the citizens, many of whom we
remember with great pleasure, a most hearty welcome.
We are changed, but as I now look into your faces, and
as I have, during the morning, met one and another of my
old school fellows, after close scrutiny, and a long grasp of
the hand, I have been able to say “Yes, I can see the old
familiar eyes, and hear something of the younger tone of the
voice,” and so our hearts spring forth to one another, and we
grasp the hand again and say “Yes, we were here together
forty years ago;” forty and more years, some of us can say,
and still we feel young today.
But the hands of time have been busy. We have changed,
and the old Academy is changed. We should all be glad
if we could go up yonder hill and in at the door of the Acad-
emy and see things as they were then, but the building has
been changed — changed to be younger and more modern, as
is fitting and to be expected, in a community like this.
But some will say, “Topsfield Academy! Why, Topsfield
Academy is dead ! It died years ago !” Oh no ! Topsfield
Academy still lives! Not only in the hearts of those before
me, but it lives in our lives — in the lives of every one who
hears me this afternoon. It lives in our memory of those
whom we knew in those years, and who have gone on before,
and whom we expect to meet sometime on the other shore.
One of the reverend gentlemen who sit behind me, said
to-day that he has never seen the name of a Topsfield Acad-
emy student in the Police Gazette or a Rogues’ Gallery.
(He may, later on, tell you how he knows so much about
the Rogues’ Gallery.) But I presume he is right when he
says that those who were educated in Topsfield, and took in
the inspiration of these beautiful hills, and carried out the
instructions given us by our kind and thoughtful teachers,
have never been heard of in the Police Gazette or Rogues’
Gallery.
To Topsfield Academy and its instructors we all look
back to-day with pleasure and gratitude, for what we here
gained in our efforts to acquire a higher education.
And, to the old Academy, the communities about here
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THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
from which we came owe a debt which, perhaps, some might
say, can never be repaid, but which we may, I think, better
say, has been, and is being, paid in the lives of the many
who went out from the Academy so well equipped for emi-
nent usefulness.
And the founders of the Academy, — let us not forget
them, but bear in mind how richly we have entered into their
labors, and how great is our obligation to them for their
zeal, their unselfishness and their liberality.
And the good old town, which in so many ways and for
so many years did so much to maintain the Academy ! It
is a source of great honor to this people that here, when
public schools of a high grade were lacking, such an insti-
tution as this held so high and so large a place in their
hearts. The fact is indisputable testimony to the character
and worth of the good citizens of Topsfield. And the good
cheer, the hearty welcome, the ample preparations which
meet us on every hand here to-day are but added testimony
in the same direction, and are proof to us that in all these
years the character of this people has not changed, except
it be for the better.
So in many ways, in many hearts, in many lives, the old
times are renewed, and we who are here to-day rejoice that
a kind Providence has spared us to meet once more, living
witnesses to the fact that Topsfield Academy still lives.
ORATION.
BY JOHN WRIGHT PERKINS, OF SALEM, MASS.
I am forceably reminded by my position here to-day, of an
incident which happened nearly forty years ago. Its story
has been often repeated and is doubtless familiar to many
of you. But when new the incident was this : — The late
Rufus Choate had been engaged to give the Oration at the
commencement exercises of Dartmouth College, his Alma
Mater. Failing health had obliged him to withdraw from
the engagement and Dr. Holmes had been secured to speak
in his place. On the Doctor’s way up to Hanover the ques-
tion was asked: — “Who is to fill Mr. Choate’s place on the
program?” To which the Doctor at once replied: — “No-
body is going to fill it, I am going up to rattle round in it.”
Sharing with you in the general disappointment and re-
gret, occasioned by the necessary absence of the distin-
guished gentleman, who was put down as the Orator for this
occasion, I have at the eleventh hour engaged to stand
here and “rattle round in his place.”
In the twenty minutes to which this part of the program
has been wisely limited, it would not, of course, be possible,
fo treat any subject exhaustively, but it will be necessary to
adopt a somewhat touch and go style, in the way of sugges-
tion, rather than of completeness.
Having in mind, that we were to meet as the representa-
tives of an educational institution, drawn together by consid-
erations chiefly personal and local in their nature, it has
seemed to me not inappropriate to take as my theme: — The
Personal and the Local Element in Education. It is possible
for words of most important meaning to loose something of
their definiteness, by the very commonness and extent of
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THE TOPS FIELD ACADEMY.
their use. They seem to shade off into varied significations,
modified by the personalities of the many who use them.
Thus, Religion, Politics, Education, stand for most impor-
tant principles, and yet we know that each of these words
may awaken different conceptions, in the minds of people of
the same community. Hence, in speaking of such topics,
it is well in the beginning, to make a statement of what the
subject treated means in the mind of the speaker. Particu-
larly is this true of Education, since, as we shall see, the
word has two well-defined meanings.
Some months ago, I was requested to write an article of
not more than four hundred words upon this subject:
“What constitutes a good education and how to obtain it.”
I respectfully declined, giving as my excuse, that I did not
have sufficient time to cover so large a subject in so few
words. I added, however, that for a brief and comprehen-
sive answer to the questions proposed, I knew of nothing
better than six words from the Old Testament: — “Fear God
and keep his commandments,” bearing in mind that fear,
here means profound reverance, and that the commands of
God have been written not only in a book, but all over the
face of nature, and stamped upon the individual conscience
of every rational being. You will remember that in the
context from which these six words are taken, they are fol-
lowed by the statement, “For this is the whole duty of man.”
But the word duty is in italic, indicating that it is not in the
original, so that the Hebrew text is even stronger and more
suggestive, with the meaning, “For this is the whole of man.”
Education in its enlarged sense has to do with the whole
man.
Since giving that answer, I have heard a definition given by
two college professors, from widely distant colleges, and each
defined education in the words used by the other, namely,
“fullness of life,” which is much the same in substance as the
one suggested above. But this word in its strictly technical
and scientific sense is more restricted in its meaning, and de-
notes only that culture which is the product of a human mind,
working upon and directing the mind of another. The larger
definition given above reminds us of the words of him, whom,
whatever else we may think of him, we must regard as the
THE ORATION.
83
greatest and most influential of teachers in which he pro-
claimed the object of his mission in the declaration, “I am
come that they might have life and that they might have it
more abundantly.” But along side of this declaration it is
well to place his other saying, “Is not the life more than meat
and the body than raiment?” and also his statement, “He that
would save his life must lose it” In these three sayings of
the founder of Christianity, we have the foundation of a large
part of the Philosophy of Education. We have its aim, an
abundant life, the suggested meaning of life as something
raised above mere material well being, and the further truth
that the largest expansion of life must come through previ-
ous suppression and self denial.
In the old Assembly’s Catechism, in which our fathers were
instructed and some of 11s began to be instructed, the first
question and answer, you will recall, has to do with the “chief
end of man.” As it is therein defined, it is not easy to see
how either part of the answer could be realized short of the
fullest development of all our powers and capabilities. For
a time, it was a question of hot discussion and patient investi-
gation among men of science, whether in the physical world,
there was to be found convincing evidence of the spontane-
ous origin of life. But after much trial the confession came,
“We know nothing of the origin of life save as it is found in
preexistant life.” So of by far the greater part of our intel-
lectual, our moral and our spiritual life, the part which is the
product of education in its scientific sense, we have to say, it
is wholly dependant upon preexistant life of a similar kind.
Whether the man has been trained in the schools, or is a
so-called “self made man” — an impossible product, by the
way, in civilized society — in the last analysis he will be found
mainly indebted to the spoken or written word, or to the un-
spoken or unwritten personal influence of other men.
So great is the undesigned and unconscious effect of social
relationship, that it has always formed a great factor in the
advantages of our schools, particularly where, as in academy
and college, the students see much of one another outside of
the hours set for study and recitation. Edward Everett Hale,
speaking of the influences which had contributed to his edu-
cation, says, for the good he received in college, he was more
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THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
indebted to the fellows, than to the faculty. If any one thinks
that Dr. Hale does not mean to be taken quite seriously in
this assertion, it must at least be acknowledged as strong tes-
timony, from a high authority, to the advantage obtained from
the mutual intercourse of student life.
A similar sentiment was expressed in a letter I once re-
ceived from a gentleman in a distant city, concerning his son
who was under my instruction. He said he wished his boy
to go to college, preferably to one which had a widely dis-
tributed patronage, that he might make the acquaintance of
cultivated men, representing different and distant types of
American society.
But the personal element, great as its province is, can not
claim the entire realm of education for its own, when we use
the word education, in its most comprehensive sense. Then
the word stands for a result, which is the product of all the
influences that combined to increase one’s power, elevate his
taste, or purify his character, and among these, the element
of locality, with all it implies, must take a very high rank. In
savage life this comes to be strikingly noticeable. Literature
and tradition are fruitful in anecdote of habits of minute ob-
servation, of mental alertness, and power of quick adaptation
to sudden emergencies, among uncivilized men, which seems
to us preternatural, not to say, supernatural.
In literary productions of the highest order, the most im-
pressive passages are often those which reveal the power ex-
ercised upon the author by local scenery and homely inci-
dent. Prophet and Psalmist are replete with imagery of the
open country life with which they must have lived on terms
of friendly intimacy. When we read Homer and other an-
cient poets, Greek and Latin, we are constantly finding de-
lightful evidence of strength, wisdom, and refined simplicity
of taste drawn from the same unfailing source. Especially
can no one read Homer without being impressed with the
evidence, that he was influenced by proximity to the ocean.
One of his many descriptive epithets is so expressive and so
resonant, that from it Dr. Holmes coins a word, when he
speaks of the “poluphloesboean sea.” This, in plainer Eng-
lish, means the sea of many voices. Can any one doubt, that
the man who thus habitually expresses himself, had often
THE ORATION.
85
walked by the shore of the sounding sea, and had taken into
his soul both the awakening, and the subduing effect of the
thunderous reverberation, and the lisping, tinkling melody of
its music.
Among poets of our own tongue, Burns, Whittier, Long-
fellow, and Lowell, represent — two of them — an education
independent of the schools, the other two, the highest educa-
tion to be obtained by almost every appliance of culture.
Yet all are alike in this, that those things in their works that
charm us most, could not have been produced, had not the
authors been brought face to face with Nature at first hand.
Whenever I hear — as I frequently do — children whose life
is mostly confined in cities, reading or reciting gems of prose
or poetry descriptive of country life or incident, there always
stirs within me, a feeling of pity for their hopeless inability to
appreciate the spirit of the words they utter. At such times,
I think how much there is that calls for unspeakable grati-
tude, in the lot of one in whose early life, field and meadow,
pasture and woodland, winding streams and sequestered
paths, animate life both wild and domestic, were the objects
of daily observation.
I still walk occasionally over the same road and pasture
paths that were my daily route between this school and the
home of my boyhood. They happen to lie through some of
the most attractive scenery of this beautiful old town. And,
as I stop here and there to gaze, seeing before me the beauty
and variety of the extended landscape and the distant sea,
I ask myself the question: — “Did I as a boy, did I, take in
all these things at their full worth?” and the answer rises in
my heart, that whether I did or did not, their silent influence
wrought for me, that which has immeasurably increased
the worth of everything else that I have ever learned.
Among the blessed fruits of these country academies, we are
to consider the importance of the service they rendered, in
bringing young men and maidens from the cities, during a
part of the plastic period of youth, into more intimate contact
and acquaintance with the grand old teacher of us all, Mother
Nature herself.
But the influence of locality may be felt as an educative
force also, through the law of association, in bringing before
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THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
our mental vision with increased vividness, deeds and events
that deserve undying remembrance. Thus, from all parts of
our country and from beyond the sea, the thronging multi-
tudes come to visit Plymouth Rock, and Lexington, and Con-
cord, and Bunker Hill. They come with no expectation
surely, of being thrilled by the intrinsic beauty or grandeur
of these places ; but because the places are suggestive of the
sublime faith in God, through which our country was found-
ed, and the sturdy, heroic valor, with which its liberties were
defended.
Two hundred and fifty years ago this very year, the Puri-
tan spirit expressed itself in establishing the first free public
school in Massachusetts. The act of establishment was ac-
companied by a preamble which stated the motive, and ended
with these words: — “That learning may not be buried in the
grave of our fathers in the church and commonwealth.”
They had already founded the college. We hold these acts
in highest honor, not alone because we regard them as the
fountain from which there has flowed, and from which we
believe there will ever continue to flow, a stream whose wa-
ters shall do much for the “healing of the nations,” but be-
cause we know something of the personal sacrifice and self
denial which these acts involved, on the part of those by
whom they were conceived and executed.
But founded in much the same spirit, and often maintained
with hardly less personal sacrifice, were the country acade-
mies which dotted so many of the hills of New England, and
which did a most important work that otherwise must, in
great part, have been left undone.
Today the spell of personality, and the spell of locality,
are strong upon us. We feel that it is good for us to meet
once more, to renew our familiarity with the place, and with
one another, and to recall the memory of other schoolmates,
and former teachers, to all of whom, our feeling of indebted-
ness is deep and lasting. But the place and the occasion
remind us, also, of others, who may or may not have ever
been members of the same school, but through whose
inspiration, and self-denying help, the advantages of an ex-
tended school-life were made our own. Today, like the
gracious return of a blessed presence, the thought comes to
THE ORATION.
87
us, of those who judged no pains too great, no sacrifice too
costly, that son or daughter, brother or sister, might share to
the full in the benefits of sound learning, because they be-
lieved that in such sacrifice, they were helping to transmute
the outward things of life, into the inward power of enlarged
being, and because by precept and example, handed down
through long lines of ancestry, they had learned and they
wished us never to forget, to “look not upon the things
which are seen, but upon the things which are not seen,” in
the firm faith and belief, that “the things which are seen are
temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
ODE.
EUGENE TAPPAN, ESQ., OF BOSTON, MASS.
We never can forget,
That years ago we met
In Topsfield town.
In heart, and mind, and will,
We feel the impulse still,
Of Academic hill,
In Topsfield town.
Today we here repair,
And breathe the healthful air
In Topsfield town.
Each field and stream we greet —
Each spot to memory sweet —
And tread the ancient street
In Topsfield town.
Thanks for our welcome here,
Thanks for this goodly cheer
In Topsfield town.
’Twas ever Topsfield’s way,
To make the comer’s stay
Happy as summer day
In Topsfield town.
tune — America.
(88)
BEAUTY.
GEORGE CONANT, OF PASADENA, CALIFORNIA.
“Beauty armed with Virtue fortifies the soul
With a commanding but a sweet control.”
Whatever strikes the eye
With a pleasurable thrill,
Or delights the willing ear
And its winding channels fill,
Or wakes the soul to action
And its finer fibres sway,
Or touches up the heart-strings
In a sweetly brilliant way,
Has charms upon the beautiful
In sky, on land and sea
’Mong high and low of every race —
A key to harmony.
The harmony of color
And the harmony of song,
The melody of Vesper bells
To the beautiful belong.
Beauty lingers in the lily,
Is enthroned within the rose,
Climbs to dizzy heights of splendor
In the arch of God’s rainbows,
Slumbers with the sleeping cherub
In its cottage cradle bed,
Wakes to conscious revelation
When fair youth and maiden wed.
Seen is beauty in the lowest
And the highest of God’s creatures,
When in symmetry enfolded
And endowed with winning features.
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THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
Nothing can be viewed as homely
That gives pleasure to the mind :
A wrinkled maid filled up with goodness
An Uncle Tom both black and blind,
A whitened head packed full of wisdom,
A benefactor bowed with years,
Unselfish children at their pastime,
A fallen Peri shedding tears,
A mother with her firstling baby,
An Indian girl by mirrored stream
Making her simple morning toilet,
A model for an artist’s theme —
All these are pictures full of beauty
Pictures hung on every hand,
Multitudes greet their unveiling
Admiration they command.
The world is full of things of beauty
Everywhere within the poles,
It strikes with force all keen observers,
It stirs them to their inner souls.
Looking from a mountain summit
There breaks a captivating view,
Nerve-stilling thoughts course long the brain-cells —
Nature’s pictures touched anew;
The vastness of the sweep of vision
Quickens pulse and brings delight,
And the far off landscape beauties
Seem to swing before the sight;
Lake and orchard nestling closely,
Vineyard, meadow, garden, rock,
Silver threads of winding rivers,
Emerald forest, shepherd’s flock,
Shadows from o’erhanging cloudland,
Moving, fleck the valley wide,
Seas of grain-field, waving golden
On which ghostly ships might ride.
This is cycloramic beauty
Only seen from towering heights,
Overwhelming in its grandeur —
Far transcending other sights,
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91
Dimly glints the distant ocean,
Circumscribing with its sheen
Islands on the curved horizon
Rounding out the shimmering scene.
The vision changes: Night is drawing
Down her curtain near and far
Sable drapery unfolding —
Pins it with a jeweled star.
As the twilight further deepens
Nature’s symphonies resound ;
Chirping insects the soprano
Turtle doves the alto sound.
Then the silver limbs of Luna,
One on earth and one in sky,
Vault upon the floor of heaven,
Trip it with the stars on high.
Constellations light the ceiling
Of the azure concave arch,
Unique figures masked and merry —
Grand processions dance and march.
What more magnifies our pleasure,
Glorifies the eager sight,
Than the heavenly exhibition
Of an oriental night?
The immensity of dome
Studded full of glittering gems,
Crowns the works of the Creator,
Drapes his garments to the hems.
Reincarnate Michael Angelo
In the Cistine Chapel, lives
Immortalized in splendid frescoes
Which only God-like genius gives.
Nature’s songs in quiet cadence
Sound at night and early morn,
In the sighing pine-tree forest,
In the rustling fields of corn.
When the frost king grasps the branches
Covering twigs on bush and tree,
And the sun unlocks the shackles,
How they fall with tinkling glee !
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THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
From the beauties of creation
Lying ’neath cerulean dome,
Rising higher than the landscape
Are the beauties of the home :
Wheels domestic running smoothly
With no break or plaintive cry,
Love, the motive power and lubric
As the days go sweetly by.
In the serious days of history
When America was new,
When religion was the watchword
And the Christians were but few,
When the worshipers were fleeing
From the tyranny of kings,
And these potentates were masters
Of men’s souls and other things,
When brave woman’s deeds were stifled
And heroines held at bay,
And men were lords and masters
Having everything to say,
When such records were unfolding
In the days of long ago —
Then the mothers seemed like ciphers
But were far from being so ;
For the rock where the Pilgrims landed
Was as much fore-mothers’ rock,
As it was the famed forefathers’ —
Just as sturdy, stalwart, stock.
When we think now of the hardships
Our forefathers struggled through,
Just consider our condition
Had not fore-mothers struggled too.
Let a painting then be issued
Let it hang on every wall,
Representing our fore-mothers —
’Twould excel in beauty all.
Character foremost must illumine
Every step in life’s career,
Crowning, makes the wearer fairer.
Beauty that all men revere.
THE POEM.
93
Righteous lives transcend in beauty
Art or song or facile pen,
Reaching ’cross the silent river
Recognized as golden then.
God’s greatest works revolve in cycles,
Wheeling, whirling, never wrong,
So, moral heroes have an orbit
Which to the beautiful belong.
Men will travel land and ocean
In search of treasures seldom found,
When all around them in the home-land
Treasures everywhere abound :
Wonderful treasures in tree and flower,
Mountain fastness, field and sky —
Myriad microscopic museums,
Under our very feet they lie.
What so fair as falling water,
Cascades leaping, foaming, white,
Mountain torrents rushing onward
Filling soul with rare delight?
Breathing marble — sculptor’s offspring
Chiseled from his fertile brain —
Artist’s soul-work, living canvas,
Applauding we can scarce refrain.
Down in caverns of the ocean
So profound the brain e’en reels
Find we many a field of beauty —
A world of wealth man’s skill reveals.
The beauties of Nature never are stilled
Her cataracts thunder and roar,
Diapasons of Ocean will ever resound
On island and continent shore.
Nightingale notes from ideal throats
Ravish the ear and the soul,
And even the morning stars it is writ
Took up the musical role.
Beauty glows in flowers of language,
Pulpit, platform show its power,
Rostrum, forum, sway the masses, —
Eloquence is beauty’s dower.
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THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
Search we in Zulu or Hottentot land,
Plunge we in African shade,
Climb we above the glacial flow,
Spectacular shows are arrayed.
There is beauty of color, beauty of form,
Beauty of figure and face,
Beautiful thoughts — the mosaics of mind,
Beauty of manner and grace.
Scriptural beauties hung on biblical walls,
Charm us, inspire us and sorrow forestalls;
Prophets and saints, historians, kings,
Have given to thought most beautiful wings;
They flash on our vision as we scan the pure pages,
“The beauty of holiness” has been noted for ages,
’Tis woven in story, repeated in song,
Inspiring the feeble and righting the wrong;
“How beautiful on mountains are couriers’ feet
That bring us glad tidings,” and goodness replete.
“The beautiful temple,” “the beautiful gate,”
The beautiful home we anticipate —
All thrill as with hope of a life that is newer,
Cementing our friendship and making it truer.
Now ere we dismiss this delight-giving theme
There uplifts before me a kind of day-dream ;
A landscape so fair rises full on my sight,
Its loveliness rare the muses invite.
A village I see as a crown to the field,
Her emerald robes in beauty revealed,
Enfringed by a radiant meandering river
Benign benefactions exhaling forever,
Reflecting a joy like the “Vale of Cashmere,”
A bucolic scene that scarce has a peer.
Here the bees of Hymettus voice their sweet coming
As they bring in the nectar with musical humming —
The robes, the field, the bees and the stream
Roseate and sun-kissed make up the day-dream.
Oh ! Topsfield ! Top of the fields, and pride of the hills.
Tranquil and restful panacea for men’s ills,
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95
Greeting Aurora, as she mounts her red car,
For a drive thro’ the gates of the morning afar;
Smiling with sunshine, smiling in shade,
Foremost in peace, but in war not dismayed,
Sitting as Queen in this beauteous valley,
Gracious to guests that ’round your feet rally !
Villas, meadows, and river your arena bedecking
With garden and orchard — your verdant slopes flecking,
Your firesides aglow with contentment and peace —
May your sky as today from gloom have surcease,
And more than all this may the stars on you shine
Lustrous in beauty as in days of “lang syne.”
The day will soon close, but in mem’ry to exist,
Our lessons recited, the school be dismissed,
Yet the greenness of age must prove no delusion
Can we only accept these words in conclusion :
In “Union there’s strength” in /bunion yet more,
The latch string has beauty when it hangs out the door;
The reunion of hearts as the world ever stands
Is more beautiful still than reunion of hands.
Tho’ the gathering years make the outside grow old
And the teeth leave their moorings or are yellow with gold,
Tho’ the heads become silvered and the backs have a bend,
And the steps get a sort of irregular trend,
Tho’ all of these sign-boards point but one way
Down the slippery life-slope to physical decay,
Yet ever triumphant the heart should be young,
Tho’ the faculties falter soul-songs should be sung —
And here is a truth above all contradiction
(And as we look on this group it becomes a conviction,)
That the fairest of things — the most beautiful sign,
Is the eternal spring just below the snow-line.
Then reenforced be our courage
As we go down the grade,
Let us think not of sorrow to-morrow,
Nor look we to witness the evening star fade
Or ever a heart trouble borrow.
96
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
So, let the crown of all beauties
That the reason must sway,
Be placed on the youthful
Re-unionist today —
The one who feels youngest
The laurel should crown,
For he’s rising the slope
As others go down.
HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
M. V. B. PERLEY, OF IPSWICH, MASS.
The Historical Address, delivered by Mr. Perley, at this
point in the literary exercises has been entirely rewritten,
and is printed herewith as a “History of the Academy.”
“The structure of the address has, in preparation of this
history, been demolished, and the framework used as the
receptacle of any and all obtainable facts having reference to
the subject.”
REMINISCENT ADDRESS.
REV. GEO. L. GLEASON, OF HAVERHILL, MASS.
Great interests are affected sometimes by trivial incidents.
Great occasions are determined by seemingly insignificant
events. This illustrious gathering once hinged upon the
simple circumstance, that J. Warren Healy knew how to
advertise. And this art he understood to perfection. Here,
I desire to say in passing, that I agree with the historian of
the day, in regarding J. Warren Healy as a most remark-
able man. He was not a scholar, or man of literary culture.
He never had time for thorough literary training. During
his college course, he supported himself and wife, by teaching
and preaching, and ever after he was engaged in the
most intense service. Yet he was a peer of literary men,
and for a time was the president of a university. For the
same reason, he was not a profound theologian, still, he
occupied some of the commanding pulpits of the Interior,
and received the degree of D. D., from a respectable west-
ern college. No one would regard him as eminent for
piety. Yet, he was called to the pastorate of Mr. Moody’s
church in Chicago, where spirituality was regarded as the
prime factor. He occupied other important positions, and
his whole career may be regarded as phenomenal. My ac-
quaintance with Mr. Healy began in the autumn of 1853,
and continued with more or less intimacy up to the time of his
death. I have already remarked that Mr. Healy knew how
to advertise. This was one of the secrets of his success.
In the summer of ’53, he announced to the youth of north-
ern N. H., and Vt., that he had taken Bath Academy, and
was prepared with an able corps of teachers, to give the best
possible education, in the shortest possible time, and at the
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THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
least possible expense. This was the school we all wanted
to attend. The youth of that day were in greater haste to
get into their life work, even, than the young men and wo-
men of the present.
My older brother and myself, passed by an academy which
we had previously attended, and which we knew to be well
equipped and manned, and with sixty or eighty other youth,
in the autumn of ’53, entered Bath Academy. We found it
an old dilapidated building, with no apparatus, and no pro-
vision for boarding the students. The able corps of teachers
consisted of J. Warren Healy, A. B.,as principal, Mrs. J. War-
ren Healy, as preceptress, and a small limb of the law as assist-
ant. Mr. Healy soon became seriously ill, and the school was
left to run itself. Here my real acquaintance with Mr. Healy
began, for I was one of the students drafted into service as a
watcher and then as a nurse. I found him to be a very irrita-
ble and uneasy patient, caused largely by the nature of his
disease. And here I discovered another life-long obstacle
with which he had to contend, physical infirmities which
would have disheartened and paralyzed the endeavor, of one
less brave and ambitious. The state of his health compelled
him to abandon the school, about the middle of the fall
term, and the most of the pupils left the academy. Here, I
first met Dan Wilkins, a typical Vermonter, though born
on the east side of the Connecticut river. He was a man
of unusual ability, his talent partaking of the nature of
genius. Had he not lacked some of the moral elements, he
would have been a great character. He followed Mr. Healy
to Topsfield in the autumn of ’54, and, I think, remained
through the winter. He wrote me such glowing descrip-
tions of the town and school, that I decided to join him in
the fall of ’55. He arranged to meet me at Middleton, as the
trains did not connect so that I could reach Topsfield in a
day. Vividly do I remember landing on the platform of
the lonely station in Middleton, one hot, dusty afternoon in
September, and looking in vain for my friend. If ever I expe-
rienced the sensation of homesickness, it was, when walking
the dusty turnpike to Topsfield in company with a Mr.
Lake of that town. With Goldsmith’s traveller, I “dragged
with each remove a lengthening chain.” The exaggerated
REMINISCENT ADDRESS.
99
account of the town and people, and the school, by which I
was entertained, did not reassure or comfort me. Here I
should remark, that Wilkins had engaged to meet me at
Middleton on a certain day, but I was detained, sent him a
telegram in ample season, but it did not reach him until
several days after I had been established as his room-mate,
in the home of Mr. Israel Rea. The autumn of ’55, passed
without special incident. I devoted myself to earnest study,
and sought to adjust myself to my new surroundings. But,
at the beginning of the winter term, I became a member of
Mr. Healy’s family. It came about in this wise. On enter-
ing the academy, I sported a gold watch, chain and fob.
This became the admiration of some, the envy of others,
and the scorn of a third class. I did not feel quite at ease
in this gorgeous array. But Mr. Healy seemed to covet the
outfit, and we entered into the following written agreement,
viz. : I, the party of the first part, covenanted to make over
to him the watch, chain and fob ; he, the party of the
second part, agreed to furnish me with board a certain
number of weeks, and tuition a certain number of terms.
George Pierce of Marblehead, became my room-mate. He
was then studying with reference to the Christian ministry.
During this term some significant, and many amusing inci-
dents occurred.
A prayer meeting was started in the academy, and Mr.
Richardson the assistant teacher, invited me to attend and
conduct the singing. It was at the first meeting that I de-
cided to enter fully upon the religious life, and publicly de-
clared my purpose. Thus was changed the whole current
of my life. Others took a similar stand, and the whole
school, for a time, was pervaded with a strong religious sen-
timent. My room-mate proposed, sometime during the
winter, that we should try and correct each the others dia-
lect and ungrammatical expressions ; his speech, smacked of
the sea, mine, of the mountains. This arrangement worked
admirably for a time. It was a great advantage to see and
hear ourselves, as another saw and heard us. But a rivalry
arose, not altogether generous, I fear, as to who should detect
the most faults, and soon there was a sting in the criticism,
some irony, and more bitterness in our corrections and we
IOO
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
eventually lapsed into silence. After matters had come to
such a pitch, we concluded to leave each, to correct his own
faults of speech and conduct, and friendship was restored.
The character of the board furnished us that winter was very
unsatisfactory, the supply was not equal to the demand,
and the quality was as objectionable as the quantity. Mrs.
Healy was always overworked. With a single servant, she
was expected to provide for her large and hungry family, and
still do duty as preceptress in the academy, then at its height
of popularity and attendance. Some of us were accus-
tomed to supplement our meagre fare at the table, by a poc-
turnal visit to the kitchen,- We had already secured the
good-will of Ellen, the cook, and maid-of-all work, who
aided and abetted our predatory warfare on the larder.
One evening, if so late an hour as 1 1 P. M. may be called
evening, several of us were regaling ourselves with a sump-
tious repast after our day’s abstemiousness, when a ghost
appeared upon the stairway, and the most of us were thrown
into a state of consternation. But Ellen, who was always
equal to the occasion, seized the ladle, and hastily filling it
with cold water, discharged its full contents at the ghost as
it vanished at the head of the stairs. A conspiracy of
silence seemed to follow this occurrence, and it is with some
hesitation, after forty-two years silence, that I give the facts
to the public. Personally, I do not believe in ghosts. But
I am sure in regard to this one. Like others it was arrayed
in white. Like the typical ghost it remained silent. But
unlike others, it came from above, went back to its own
place, and never again appeared.
Sam. Fowler took his dinners at Mr. Healy’s. One day
Mrs. Healy had cut the two pies just so they would go
round. She asked each of us in turn, which we would have,
squash or apple. Our replies were governed, not by our
tastes or the merits of the pies, but by the prospect of their
holding out so as to go round. When Sam.’s turn came, he
was equal to the occasion, and replied, “I will take a piece of
both, if you please.” Thus, some one had to go without,
probably, Mrs. Healy.
It was during this winter, that George Pierce proposed a
drive to Bradford, to spend the day. He suggested that it
REMINISCENT ADDRESS.
OI
would improve our manners to go more into good society.
The real object, however, was to visit Bradford Academy,
and to see one Susan Perley, of Danvers, whom he had met,
and of whom he was somewhat enamored. We secured a
fine horse and sleigh, with a merry string of bells, of Frederic
Merriam. But the horse proved to be a tearer. He started
from the stable like a cannon ball, but unlike a cannon ball,
his speed did not diminish as the distance increased. How-
ever, we reached our place of destination without incident.
We called on Benjamin Greenleaf, whom we found a most
genial, entertaining man; his daughters were equally engag-
ing. I had conceived a decided prejudice against Mr. Green-
leaf, because of his mathematical works, his algebra had been
my special abhorrence. But ever after this I have “esteemed
him very highly in love,” for what he was, but not for “his
works’ sake.” We spent the day very delightfully, and pro-
fitably, in company with the students of the academy, and
towards night turned our faces homeward. But if the horse
was eager to reach his place of destination in the morning,
he now seemed frantic. It required all our energy to keep
him under control. Soon the darkness shut down upon us.
Another terror was soon added, for a blinding snow storm
set in. All we could do was to hold on, sometimes with our
combined force, and plunge into the gathering gloom. At
one time, when the horse was at the height of his speed, and
I was taking my turn at holding on, the sleigh gave a lurch
to one side, and George rolled out. Summoning all my
energy, I succeeded, in a seasonable time, in bringing the
horse to a halt. George came up after a time, puffing and
groaning, declaring that he feared his shoulder was dislocated.
I asked him why he had got out? He said he feared the
sleigh was going to tip over. I told him that never in the
country were we accustomed to get out until we were sure
of a tip-over. But he had incapacitated himself for “holding
on,” and I drove the remaining distance without further in-
cident. It was to both of us a memorable day.
The assistant teachers in the Academy were men of rare
ability and excellent character. I would gladly speak of each
in turn, if time permitted. J. Henry Richardson was the assist-
ant, in the years ’55-6. I shall never cease to be gratified
02
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
that it was my lot to fall in with such a pure and noble man,
at this formative period of my life. He took me into his
confidence and friendship. We walked, and talked, and sang
together, and became intimate companions. He invited me to
go with him to Andover, where he had an engagement as
leader of the Episcopal choir. He took me to the home of
Prof. Stowe, and introduced me to my subsequent theologi-
cal teacher, and his then famous wife. He also invited me to
go with him to North Reading, to attend a concert given by
the Normal Musical Institute, which was under the direction
of Lowell Mason and George F. Root. Webb presided at
the organ, the most accomplished organist I had ever heard.
He proposed to pay all the expenses, making the only con-
dition of my acceptance, that I should invite two young ladies
whom he designated, Miss Georgie Dorman and Miss Addie
Rea. We took tea at his home in Middleton, and his broth-
er and two sisters accompanied us to the concert. I after-
wards became a pupil in this Institute, and was in the chorus
that furnished the music at the Andover Theological Semin-
ary anniversary. We sang the Hallelujah Chorus with grand
effect.
Some of my most pleasing reminiscences, are in connection
with the families and homes of the citizens of Topsfield.
I will confine my remarks strictly to my student days, and can
mention only two families, that of Mr. Benjamin Kimball and
Mr. B. P. Adams. Sometimes, for months together, I spent
an evening each week in the home of Mr. Kimball, the most
of the time was passed in singing. Mr. Kimball had one of
the most beautiful bass voices to which I ever listened, and I
have often thought that I never heard an alto voice, that sur-
passed that of Miss Hattie’s, in tenderness and sweetness.
Miss Deborah, sang the contralto, and I carried the tenor.
Miss Susie, no less musically gifted than the others, presided
at the piano. But they have all gone, and I have no doubt
there is sweeter music in heaven because of their presence,
and I shall always be gratified that it was my lot, when a
mere lad, to be invited to such a genial musical home.
Mr. Adams was the post master and kept the village store.
He was a very companionable man, and often tocTk me for a
drive, and frequently invited me to his home. I remember
REMINISCENT ADDRESS.
103
when the new piano was purchased. After a little I was in-
vited in to hear the children play. Mary acquitted herself
greatly to the satisfaction of her mother, and her performance
elicited general applause. But Mr. Adams was greatly inter-
ested in the playing of Bennie, who promised, as he thought,
to be a musical genius. The little fellow climbed upon the
music stool, and with two fingers, played “Peter, Peter, pump-
kin eater, had a wife and could’nt keep her,” in a manner
which greatly delighted his fond parents. I joined heartily
in the applause. I have since listened to the juvenile per-
formance of many a promising musician, and shared the ad-
miration of doting parents, but never did I carry away such a
vivid picture, as that of little Bennie.
In those early days of my connection with the academy,
the lyceum was in a most flourishing condition. The citizens
took a deep interest in the debates, and some of them were
participants. Mr. Samuel Hood, who was a most remark-
able man, both in gifts, attainments, and the ability to state
his convictions, the Adamses, Peabodys, Balches and others,
took part in the debates. Occasionally Mr. McLoud came
in, and when he and Mr. Healy were opponents, the sparks
would fly, and excitement was great. One amusing incident
occurred one evening, during one of the debates. Mr. Rich-
ardson, the assistant principal, was accustomed to wear a tall
hat. He had just purchased a new one, and, for its careful
preservation, he placed it on one of the seats. Mr. B. P.
Adams came in, and sat down plump, on the new hat. It was
ruined completely, and never again appeared on the street.
In the autumn of ’56, occurred the Fremont campaign.
The three Balches and myself, started a campaign quartette.
Their voices were very heavy, and mine was comparatively
weak, and seemed like a little purling stream in the meadow,
by the side of three roaring Niagaras. But I contributed a
campaign song, which was some compensation for my failure
to be heard. We succeeded in carrying Topsfield, and Mas-
sachusetts, and, I think, New England, but not the whole
country.
Dud. Pearson and I, were accustomed to sing a good deal
together. He had an excellent bass voice, of which I have
many times heard during the last forty years. We made
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THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
several attempts to serenade our lady friends. I remember
one evening in particular. We had made special prepara-
tion ; it was a beautiful night, and we expected to elicit great
applause. He, could go very low and I, could manage to get
up pretty high. We sang a song closing with the words,
“Sleep, O ! sleep!” After doing our best, we listened for
some response, but she slept, and slept !
I must content myself with a few incidents in our school life.
Our rhetorical exercises Wednesday afternoons were great
occasions. Mr. Healy was then at his best. His criticisms
were often amusing, sometimes terrific. We had some good
speakers. George Pierce, N. T. Kimball, Clarence Fowler,
and others, always commanded attention. Some also were
conspicuous by their awkwardness and failures. One after-
noon, Blaisdell, from Marblehead, declaimed a piece in which
reference was made to the advancement of civilization. He
had taken his position at the extreme rear of the platform,
and when he came to this passage, he folded his arms and
took several long and deliberate strides towards the front of
the stage. When he was through, Mr. Healy pounced upon
him. He said, “Blaisdell, didn’t you know better than that?
I would as soon think of sitting down on the stage to per-
sonate the sun’s setting, as to stride across the platform to
represent the progress of civilization.” We had some excel-
lent writers among the young ladies. Georgie Dorman al-
ways secured attention when she read her composition. She
was a gifted girl and a most remarkable writer. Ellen Kim-
ball, Addie Rea, and Julia Spiller, were always interesting.
So also was little Lottie Perkins. We wondered how so
small a girl could write so large a composition.
Many incidents in our school life come to me with great
vividness. I commenced the study of Greek, in company
with Arthur Merriam and Helen McLoud. Arthur always
seemed to me to be more interested in Helen than in his
Greek grammar. He later was a fine scholar. She seemed
to get hold of the principles of a new language by instinct,
and learned the characters from sight. Never did I meet
one, whose classical insight I was more inclined to envy, for
Greek was to me, for a long time, a dead language. We
had for our instructor Austin Hazen, a very youthful but
REMINISCENT ADDRESS.
105
most accomplished teacher, and withal, a most gifted and
beautiful man. Coburn Porter was my classmate in geome-
try. He was a very modest youth, and his head seemed to
be too far ahead of his shoulders. I do not remember that
he ever spoke to me during the weeks we were together.
But he always had his lessons. I thought then, and time
has not greatly modified my opinion, that he was the most
remarkable mathematician I had ever met. His figures on
the board were faultless, and he never hesitated or tripped in
the demonstration of his propositions. But as there is an end
to all things, so must there be a close to these recollections.
Graduation day came at last, and four of us young men left
the academy to return no more. Sidney Merriam and N. T.
Kimball went to Dartmouth College, and Sam. Fowler and I
went to Amherst. I presume we all made eloquent and im-
pressive addresses, but I do not recall them now. The music
for the occasion was furnished by a quartette, composed of
Mr. Allis, who had a fine bass voice, Mr. Sumner Perkins,
Mr. Winslow, and myself. It was a success, and elicited
hearty commendation, which was to me, a great satisfaction,
for I had, from my connection with the academy, been iden-
tified with its musical interests.
One incident connected with the evening entertainment
was both characteristic and amusing. It seemed to be a
proper thing, for the young people to pair off at such an im-
portant epoch in their lives. Choice, instinct, and natural
selection, helped in determining the selection, with the most
of us. But none of these sentiments influenced Sam. Fowler.
He waited until all the young ladies had been provided for,
and took the one who was left. After he had walked a
reasonable distance, he learned that the aforesaid young lady
lived three miles away. Accordingly he plodded on in
silence until he had gone, what he estimated, was half the
distance, when he turned back with the remark, “You will get
home as soon as I will, so I will bid you good night.” Sam.
is now living alone in one of his tenements in Danvers, and I
am not informed that he has ever started to walk home with
a young lady, since the memorable night of his graduation
from Topsfield Academy.
Fellow schoolmates and friends of former years. This is
io 6
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
one of the most memorable and delightful occasions of our
lives. This faultless summer day, is an emblem of the sun-
shine and gladness in our hearts. The most pleasing recol-
lections, come thronging back to our memories, and we live
over again the joys of our youthful days. Faces wreathed
with smiles, come out of the shadows of the past. Forms,
once so dear to us, long since passed within the veil, come
before us in glad review. The chain of friendship, severed
by a period of forty years, is now reunited, never again to be
sundered, not even by death. The lines of toil, and care, and
age, and perchance of suffering, are furrowed in our faces,
but still the lineaments of youth remain. But our hearts are
as youthful, and beat with as cordial sympathy for each
other, and loving loyalty for the old Academy, as when we
parted, nearly half a century ago. Do not our hearts burn
within us, as we here review, ’mid smiles and tears, the long
procession of the years.
ADDRESS.
JUDGE ISRAEL W. ANDREWS, OF DANVERS, MASS.
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: —
I had rather be excused, than, at this late hour, endeavor
to interest you with what I might have to say, but, for the
few minutes allowed, I shall have to amputate the speech I
should ordinarily make, and so perhaps you will remain un-
til I am done.
Yes, I was a student of Topsfield Academy in 1840-41,
and I remember well, and with great pleasure, many of the
associations of that day.
It happened on election day, that I was allowed the privil-
ege of waiting upon a young lady. It seems that there was
a decided objection, on the part of Mr. Healy, in regard to
the young men waiting upon young ladies, and that reminds
me of a little incident that occurred in New Hampshire. I
went there to school before I came here. It was a Baptist
Theological School and Academy — of course I went to the
Academy. My father was a minister, but I never had any
inclination in that direction. In fact, from what I have seen
sometimes, I have thought that a theological education
could be well dispensed with, even by our ministers.
I was going to say, that in this incident I met a Professor
gallanting around with two young ladies, and he, the next
morning, gave me a very severe reprimand for being out —
it was Sunday.
Well, it afterwards happened that I was waiting upon a
young lady, and as soon as it was discovered, I was promptly
called before the Board, and asked if I did not know the
rules of the school. I replied that I knew them all very well.
“Well,” said the Professor, who was also the President, “it is
against the rules of the school, for a young man to wait upon
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THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
a young lady.” I asked him if it was any more against the
rules of the school, for a young man to wait upon a young
lady, than it was for a professor. The result was that I was
finally suspended, but not for that reason alone, however.
But to be serious. I have a single word more to add. I
would like to say to all who hear me, that, ahead of wonder-
ful achievements, there is a depth of thought — a vastness in
the direction of man’s investigation of true study.
I wrote a lecture once, or tried to, and thought I did, up-
on, “What Constitutes Good Scholarship, or, a Student’s
Work, and What He Should Do.” That lecture is some-
where around the house now. I have not seen it for many
years, although I have a lot of books and other collections,
and presume it is there, but I think, that in view of the vast-
ness of the problems that are arising, that our school educa-
tion is becoming comparatively of little importance. I say
this, and I say more — I think myself, that the academical
institution, is the equal, if not the superior, of our high
schools. And it is not because I am in the least prejudiced.
It is simply what I have thought from my experience.
Now, we have a high school in Danvers, and the people
of Topsfield have become acquainted with the course pur-
sued, as they have sent a number of their children there.
I think there was more freedom of thought, in the acad-
emical institution, and thereby securing, better scholars
than we get now. At the present time they are full of friv-
olous matters, and sometimes those that are dangerous to
their own health, and to the character of humanity.
ADDRESS.
GEORGE CONANT, OF PASADENA, CALIFORNIA.
Mr. President: —
I did not know that I would be called upon to speak, and
I don’t know as I can interest the audience, unless, perhaps,
I refer to a debating society we had forty-five years ago.
We had such men in the society as Rev. Anson McLoud,
Charles Holmes, Sam. Todd, and B. P. Adams. On a certain
occasion the question was rather interesting to me, and I,
being President, and wishing to talk on the question, left the
chair to Rev. Mr. Bailey. The debate went on in a certain
line, and Squire Holmes, as we used to call him, being
always very ready to talk, and being also very sarcastic, and
sometimes a little obnoxious, put a great many restrictions
on the ruling of Mr. Bailey. Well, Mr. Bailey took offence,
and concluded he had better give up his position as Presi-
dent, and so, while Mr. Holmes was interjecting a little of
his bitter talk, Mr. Bailey stepped down, and stepped out of
the chair. As he went down the steps, Square Holmes
flourished his hands and said, Sic transit gloria mundi (Thus
passeth the glory of the world), which made the incident
quite dramatic.
At another time in the society, Mr. B. P. Adams, a prom-
inent merchant of Topsfield, and a strong supporter of the
academy, was called upon to speak.
Now Mr. Adams was a good talker and a ready debater,
but on this occasion he did not seem ready, and rose to ex-
cuse himself from speaking, with much deliberation. He
said he thought he could not give a better reason, for not
responding to the call to speak, than to quote the dying
words of Ex-President Adams, by saying, “This is the last
of the Adams’s;” and had he sat down then and there, as it
was remarked afterward, Mr. Adams would have made the
greatest hit of his life, but, alas ! the supreme opportunity
passed, and the “last of the Adams’s” went on with a long
speech.
(•09)
ADDRESS.
REV. ALFRED NOON, OF BOSTON, MASS.
It is difficult to conceive how my name was discovered
upon the annals of the Academy, and it must have needed
a very close scrutiny, on the part of the Secretary, to iden-
tify the name with the present speaker.
An effort was made the other day to ascertain how it came
about that I was a student of the Academy. Some of you
may remember the occasion of my being here, was, because
I was a boy living away from home with Rev. Stephen G.
Hiler, who came from the old Batchelder place, up town, to
occupy, for a few months, the pulpit of the Methodist church
and the Methodist parsonage.
During that time, somehow, I seemed to have been en-
rolled as a student in the Academy, possibly to relieve Mr.
Sumner Perkins, who was then teaching the Centre school,
here on the green. There are two or three reminiscences
connected with these years that come to me.
There were a good many people in the town who differed
from some of us. We all have our notions, but they dif-
fered from us in publicly acknowledging theirs. One Sun-
day, the bell of the Congregational church, of the Methodist
church, and of the old Academy, all rang for religious ser-
vices. It seems that in a few hours the people expected the
world to come to an end. They made a mistake, however,
as we all do, frequently, in these days. The occurrence was
one a great many of the residents will recall.
I remember well, the lessons in geography, at the Acade-
my, taught by Mrs. Healy, I think, and what interesting
times we had, studying the well remembered wall maps. I
was one of the younger students, and remember my experi-
(IIO)
A SENTIMENT OFFERED.
I I I
ences in learning long division, when we would work some
simple example, and make it nearly as long as ourselves.
I did not have time to look up the old catalogue of the
Academy in my private library, and hunt up the list of the
names of my fellow students, but here, today, I am meeting
many of them, and have renewed old acquaintances and
friendships. I am very glad of the opportunity of seeing,
today, the students of the time-honored Topsfield Academy.
SENTIMENT.
EUGENE TAPPAN, ESQ., OF BOSTON, MASS.
Mr. Tappan offered the following sentiment, time not per-
mitting an intended address : —
“I prize Topsfield Academy, for cultivating a love of
Nature, a spirit of original investigation, and a taste for liter-
ature.”
AULD LANG SYNE.
Parting Song.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind ;
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And songs of auld lang syne.
For auld lang syne we meet to-day,
For auld lang syne;
To sing the songs our fathers sang
In days of auld lang syne.
We’ve passed through many varied scenes,
Since youth’s unclouded day ;
And friends, and hopes, and happy dreams,
Time’s hand has swept away ;
And voices that once joined with ours,
In days of auld lang syne,
Are silent now, and blend no more
In songs of auld lang syne.
Here we have met, here we may part
To meet on earth no more;
And we may never sing again
The cherished songs of yore ;
The sacred songs our fathers sang,
In days of auld lang syne ;
We may not meet to sing again
The songs of auld lang syne.
But when we’ve crossed the sea of life.
And reach the heav’nly shore,
We’ll sing the songs our fathers sing,
Transcending those of yore ;
We’ll meet to sing diviner strains
Than those of auld lang syne;
Immortal songs of praise unknown
In days of auld lang syne.
(I 12)
LETTERS RECEIVED.
Among the many Letters received from former teachers
and students, the following have been selected as having
historical or biographical interest.
Little Boar’s Head, New Hampshire.
Mr. Geo. F. Dow, July 14, 1897.
Com. Topsfield Historical Society.
Dear Sir: — I am in receipt of your kind favor of the 10th
inst., inviting me to be present at the reunion of the teachers
and students of Topsfield Academy. I regret to say, it will
not be practicable for me to be present on that interesting
occasion. The year ending 55 years ago, which I passed as
Principal of the Academy, is one full of pleasant memories.
Among the students, there were many young men and
young women, who went forth to occupy important and
useful stations in life. Among others, Orne and Bomer;
the former died young, the latter became a successful phy-
sician in Ipswich, Massachusetts, and died respected and
honored in the middle of a promising career; Augustus
Perkins, now in full practice in the medical profession in
the city of Boston ; Bartlett, for some years a successful
physician, later engaged in business, now residing in Brook-
line, Massachusetts, in the enjoyment of a well earned
otium cum dignitate\ Gould, many years an able and ac-
complished teacher, and afterward a merchant in the city of
Boston. There were others of whose career I know less ;
John Friend is remembered for his marvellous ability in
(•13)
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
I 14
mathematics. There were Ives, and Reed, and Bradstreet,
and Ruggles, all loyal and devoted students
I regret deeply that I shall not be able to be with you at
the reunion. But my heart and sympathies will be there,
and I cannot doubt that the occasion will be one of great
satisfaction and pleasure.
Believe me very truly yours,
Edmund F. Slafter.
Waterloo, Iowa, July 22, 1897.
Mr. Geo. Frs. Dow,
Dear Sir: — Your note of request that
I furnish some reminiscences of Topsfield Academy, for the
reunion, on Aug. 12, was duly received. My introduction to
Topsfield Academy was in the spring of 1830.
Principal Vose was a man of forty-five or fifty years, I
judge, and Miss Ann Cofran, the Preceptress, of perhaps
thirty-five or forty years. They were both very sedate, and
very devout, and the religious character of the school was al-
ways prominent.
The young gentlemen occupied the lower, and the young
ladies the upper room ; but at morning and evening prayers,
rhetorical exercises, etc., all went into the upper room, which
was divided strictly by an invisible, but effective line between
the two sexes. If there was any whispering or noise in
prayer time, Mr. Vose could, with great facility, open his
eyes and look around the room, without interrupting the
thread of his petition. But the general decorum of the
school was good, and he was seldom disturbed in this way.
Though he was a college graduate, and an A. M., Mr. Vose
was not a very thorough scholar, especially in Latin.
In his Latin class were the late Rev. Josiah Peabody, mis-
sionary to Persia, and the Rev. W. A. Peabody, Professor of
Latin in Amherst College, where he died in less than a year
LETTER FROM REV. M. K. CROSS.
I 15
after his inauguration. They frequently had occasion to ask
some question about the lesson, which the teacher generally
informed them he would “look up,” but which the pupils sel-
dom, if ever, heard of again.
I believe I was something of a favorite with Mr. Vose; for
he used to call on me frequently to hear a class recite, and to
help him in other ways. He had one particularly fractious
boy, whom he often found it difficult to manage. The mast-
er was not a very genial man, and was, by nature, quick tem-
pered, which made it all the more difficult for him to get on
pleasantly with the aforesaid boy. On one occasion, the lad
was unusually obstinate, and I was placed in the seat behind
him to watch and guard him. He was still much more in-
clined to have his own way than to yield to authority; and
when the Principal came to castigate him, he rose up, with a
ruler in his hand, to strike back, and might have dealt the
harder blow of the two, if I had not caught his hand and re-
strained him.
At another time, the boy was outside the house and re-
fused to come in at thevbidding of the master; when we were
required to bring him in by main strength. The boy started
at the top of his speed, and we after him, and were obliged
to take him by his arms and legs, and force him into the hall
of learning. It did not take me fifty years to decide, that this
sort of pedagogy had entirely too much of the corporeal in it,
and that it was about as much of a punishment to the boys
who caught the rogue, as to him who was caught. That in-
tractable boy is now, I learn, a practising lawyer in Boston.
But in spite of these unpleasant incidents, the general drift
of things at the Academy was pleasant and profitable. The
instruction was not of a high order, as compared with the
present standard in academies and high schools; but it was
much better than nothing, and prepared the way for higher
and better things. There were certainly some very choice
spirits in Topsfield Academy, at the time of which I am writ-
ing, especially in the upper room, with whom we were al-
lowed to have but little intercourse. Out of school hours we
were more free and familiar, and when we met to sing, and
to prepare for exhibition, at the close of the term, we were
quite social. The program, on one of these occasions, was
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
II 6
a very choice one, and I distinctly remember some of the
themes, and who wrote upon them. My own was the very
poetical one of “Self-knowledge,” founded on Pope’s familiar
line, “Man, know thyself, all wisdom centres here,” and
was treated in the pompous style of the famous “Essay on
Man.” One of the young ladies had for a motto, the pensive
but beautiful lines of Goldsmith: —
“Vain, very vain, my weary search to find
The bliss which centers only in the mind.”
Some of our rides and rambles on Saturday afternoons,
over the hills and through the valleys, were charming, and
retain their delectable fragrance as fresh as ever. Several of
those who shared them have gone to join the majority, —
penetrare ad plures, even in Plutarch’s time, — but some re-
main, whom it would be a pleasure to greet, if such a pleasure
were permitted. I may be permitted to name especially,
among the living, the venerable and honored Prof. E. D.
Sanborn, of Dartmouth College, Rev. George Hood, and
Rev. Benjamin How, Mr. and Mrs. Ezra Towne, of Topsfield,
Mrs. Clara W. Rose, and Mrs. Eliza F. Stone, of Salem,
Mrs. Catharine W. Cook, of Andover, Mrs. Susan N. Tenney,
of Georgetown, and others. One of the “others,” Mrs. H.
N. Black, of Danvers, I had the singular pleasure of meeting,
two years ago, at the house of her sister, in the city where I
reside, whom I had not seen for almost fifty years. We were
seated together at the head of the table, of course, as the
oldest of the company, though it did not seem to us, that
day, that we were very old, as indeed we are not. It was a
rare treat to run over the names and history of those who
were young, and full of hope, when we were also young,
some of whom are now gone to the other side of the river.
“My eyes are dim with childish tears,
My heart is idly stirred,
For the same sound is in my ears,
Which in those days I heard.
LETTER- FROM JACOB P. PALMER.
II 7
Thus fares it still in our decay,
And yet the wiser mind
Mourns less for what age takes away,
Than what it leaves behind.
But we are pressed by heavy laws,
And often, — glad no more, —
We wear a face of joy, because
We have been glad of yore.”
I hope and trust you will have a pleasant and profitable
time at the reunion, and would remain,
Very truly yours,
M. K. Cross.
The Chelsea.
222 W. Twenty-Third St., New York.
Mr. Geo. Frs. Dow, and Aug. 3, ’97.
Committee of the Topsfield Historical Society,
Gentlemen : — Although I have not received from you a cir-
cular concerning the coming celebration of Topsfield Acade-
my, I have seen one addressed to my brother, Julius A.
Palmer, of Boston, and I take the liberty to write to you
concerning my brief connection with the time honored insti-
tution which you represent.
I think it was about the year 1846, that I was a pupil at
the Academy for a period of six weeks. It was in the
spring, I am not sure of the year. I remember the names of
two of my companions at the Academy, one was Cyrus
Killam, who afterwards had his name changed, by Act of
General Court, to Bartlett, his mother’s name. He became
Dr. Bartlett, was with Dr. Earle, as Assistant Superintendent
of Insane Asylum, at Northampton, Mass., and afterward
Superintendent, Insane Asylum, St. Peter, Minnesota. He
was of Boxford. Another was Wm. Augustus Herrick, of
1 18
THE TOPSFIELD ACADEMY.
Boxford, afterwards, for many years, a Boston lawyer. My
family lived in Boston and Boxford.
At the time when I attended the Academy, I lived with
my grandfather, Major Jacob Peabody, at Boxford, E. Parish.
I usually rode to Topsfield in the morning and walked back
to Boxford in the afternoon. I rode on the Haverhill and
Salem Stage Coach, driven by Mr. Pinkham and Mr. Hil-
liard. The teacher’s name I do not remember, but I liked
him. He had about 40 pupils, but receiving a call to a
larger field, he left us, and the Academy was abruptly closed,
much to my regret.
I am, dear sirs, very truly yours,
Jacob P. Palmer.
53 Leonard St., New York.
Mr. Geo. Fr. Dow, Com. Aug. 9th, 1897.
Dear Sir: — I regret that imperative engagements pre-
vent my attendance at the reunion of the Academy scholars,
on the 1 2th.
Your invitation brings back a flood of memories, and a
longing to see, once again, those whose names are familiar,
but whom I have met very seldom, if at all, in these long forty
years. In infrequent visits to my native town of Boxford,
I always look from the train to see the old Academy build-
ing, and wonder if its interior is still as familiar as its out-
ward identity.
Very heartily, I send an individual greeting to each of my
old schoolmates, wishing for the privilege of looking again
into the faces which the years must have changed as much
as they have changed mine. I wish more heartily that the
paths which have been so strange; and so different; and
so separated ; may all enter at last, “into the everlasting
kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.” “The wish
came — it hath passed into a prayer.”
Sincerely yours,
M. H. Dorman.
LETTER FROM M. R. HUTCHINSON.
9
Mannheim, Germany.
Aug. 2, 1897.
Topsfield Historical Society: —
I have just received your kind invitation, to be present at
the reunion of the Teachers and Students, on the 12th inst.
I should gladly like to be with you, and grasp the hands of
friends of long years ago, and review again the scenes to
which I often fondly revert. It is impossible for me to be
with you, but I wish you a hearty good time, and Topsfield
Academy — may it long live and prosper.
Very truly yours,
Myron R. Hutchinson.
Letters were also received from Rev. Charles M. Pierce,
of Auburn, Mass. ; Rev. George Hardy, of Sanquoit, N. Y. ;
Rev. Hiram B Putnam, of Derry, N. H. ; Daniel S. Balch,
of Lyons, Iowa ; Samuel L. Sawyer, of Danvers, Mass. ; Mrs.
Sarah (McMillan) Parsons, of Derry, N.-H.; Rev. A. B.
Peabody, of Boxborough, Mass. ; Dean Peabody, Esq., of
Lynn, Mass., and many others.
A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF
DR. ROYAL A. MERRIAM.
BY JUSTIN ALLEN, M. D.
Among the subjects proper to be considered by a local
historical society, that of the old-time country physician
occupies a prominent place. He was an important person-
age in the town. Great responsibilities rested upon him.
Vast interests depended upon his wise and judicious action.
The health and lives of the people were committed to his
hands. From the beginning of one’s earthly existence to
its close, the physician was looked to, to preserve life and
health, to ward off disease, to relieve the sick when disease
had fastened upon him, to soothe and comfort when medical
art failed, and to stand by at the last and administer what-
ever help was in his power. Through infancy, childhood,
manhood, and age, it was the part of the physician to safe-
guard the lives and health of the people among whom he
lived.
In the eighteenth century and in the early part of the
present century, the medical profession was, as has been well
described, a “conscientious vocation,” and less a business
or trade than in later times. The physician was held in high
esteem and occupied a high social position in society. He
was considered a learned and enlightened member of the
community and was respected as such. He had the confi-
dence of the people among whom he labored, who trusted in
his skill and gave him their support and gratitude. He
mingled with the people more than any other person, was
present at all seasons that make up the varied experiences
of life, participated in their joys, and sympathized with
them in their sorrows.
(120)
ANCESTRY.
12 I
It is the purpose of this sketch to give the salient features
in the life of Dr. Royal A. Merriam, who was a native of
this village and who spent the most of his life in this com-
munity as a practicing physician. The data from which to
prepare the paper are not as full as could be desired, espe-
cially those relating to his early history, and therefore it
must necessarily be imperfect.
Dr. Merriam came of good stock, the Merriam family of
Concord, Mass. Joseph Merriam was the first inhabitant
of that name and evidently one of the first settlers of the
town. The ancestry of the family has been traced back to
William Merriam, of Kentstine, in England, who was born
about 1580, and died in 1635 in his native land. William’s
three sons, Joseph, George, and Robert, came to New Eng-
land and settled in Concord in 1636.
The Topsfield family trace their descent from Joseph
Merriam, the emigrant. The lineage runs thus: — Joseph
Merriam1; John Merriam2, born 1641 ; John Merriam6, born
1666; John Merriam4, born 1692; John Merriam5, born 1 7 1 9-
20 O.S. ; John Merriam6, born 1758; Royal A. Merriam7,
born 1786. Dr. Merriam’s mother, Hannah Jones Merriam,
was a descendant of Nathaniel Jones, of an old and respect-
ed family of Middlesex County.
Dr. John Merriam, the father of the subject of this sketch,
studied medicine in Charlton and was licensed to practice by
the Medical Association of Worcester County. He married
Hannah Jones, of Charlton, “a help-meet true”, as records
say, Sept. 23, 1782, the marriage ceremony being performed
by the Rev. Joshua Johnson, of Woodstock, Conn. He came
to Topsfield and established himself in practice Dec. 1783.
March 31, 1784, he bought of Daniel Hood, a house-wright
by trade, the house where Mr. Hood lived, known to a past
generation as the residence of the late Maj. Nathaniel
Conant, where he took up his residence.
Feb. 11, 1796, Dr. Merriam purchased of Thomas Foster,
a farmer of Topsfield, 12J acres of land at the corner of
Ipswich and Haverhill Streets, extending back to the Batch-
elder farm. On this spot he erected the house that stands
there at the present time. The house was probably built
soon after the purchase of the site, for he sold the Conant
122
SKETCH OF DR. ROYAL A. MERRIAM.
house, Oct. 9, 1797, to Daniel Perkins, a resident of Salem.
Dr. John Merriam was well prepared for the work of his
profession, as the times then were. His medical library was
large for those days. From entries made in his own hand-
writing in books of his library, it would appear that his
studies preparatory to the study of medicine were consider-
able, and that he had some knowledge of Latin. There is
no record of his school days, but it may be presumed that
he had the advantages that other young men enjoyed. He
might have received instruction from an educated man, be-
fore taking up his medical studies. From what we learn of
him it is certain that he stood high as a medical practitioner,
and that he had the respect of his patrons and of the com-
munity in general. He had a large practice, that extended
into the adjoining towns.
As was often the case in those days, with the coun-
try physician, he gave some attention to the cultivation of
the land. He acquired property and left a considerable
estate, and a name that has been handed down with respect.
Dr. Merriam died of consumption, Nov. 21, 1817, at the
age of 59 years.
Dr. Royal A. Merriam was born in the Conant house,
Jan. 30th, 1786. There is little to be found on record of his
early life. But we can easily conceive of him in his boy-
hood and youth as taking an active part in the affairs of the
small farm, assisting in the care of the animals, preparing
the ground in spring-time, for the seed, planting, cultivating
the growing crops, and harvesting. Robust, strong, and
athletic, he took part in the sports of the time. The bicy-
cle, polo, and the pseudo-chase were unknown in his youth,
but ball playing, coasting and skating were practiced. It is
known that he was an expert skater and excelled in the more
difficult manoeuvres of the sport. There is nothing definite
on record in relation to his early school days. Doubtless
he attended the centre school and there learned the rudi-
ments of the branches taught in the common schools.
He might have received instruction, preparatory for col-
lege, from his father, who, as we have seen, was qualified to
give it; — or from Jacob Kimball, a college graduate, who
taught the centre school, and who appears to have been an
AT DARTMOUTH COLLEGE.
123
intimate friend of the family; — or, he might have studied
with Mr. Huntington, the minister of the place, as it was
common in those days for the clergyman of the parish to
prepare young men for college. He attended school in a
neighboring town, probably Andover, for how long a time is
unknown, where he could see the steeple of the Topsfield
church in his walks upon a hill near by.
Dr. Merriam entered Dartmouth College in the freshman
year of 1804-5. He graduated in 1808. Nothing further
can be given of his residence at Hanover, unless we except
a letter from his mother, written in 1805, in which she ex-
pressed the hope that he would “always pursue the ways of
virtue and holiness, and make such improvements in his
studies as” would “render him a useful member of society.”
Among his teachers at Dartmouth, were the President of
the college, Rev. John Wheelock, S. T. D., LL. D., an able
man, possessing marked traits of character in various ways ,
and the learned and scholarly Roswell Shurtleff, S. T. D.
Francis Brown, President of the college from 1815 until his
death in 1820, was a tutor when Merriam was a student; —
distinguished for genius, character and culture, as was also
Frederick Hall, M. D., LL. D., afterwards a professor of
Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, and a college presi-
dent.
His class numbered forty, of whom three became mem-
bers of Congress ; namely, Ichabod Bartlett, Isaac Fletcher,
and George Grennell. Four were physicians; seven, cler-
gymen ; and of lawyers, a much larger number.
As a young man’s acquaintances and associates have an
educational influence upon him, it may not be inappropriate
to mention some members of other classes whom he must
have known more or less intimately : Richard Fletcher and
Matthew Harvey, distinguished lawyers and jurists ; Lemuel
H. Arnold, Albion K. Parris, and Levi Woodbury, Gov-
ernors of States, the latter Secretary of the Navy and of the
Treasury ; George Ticknor, author of the History of Spanish
Literature; Amos Kendall, Postmaster-General; and Joel
Parker, of N. H., and Ether Shepley, of Maine, each Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court of their respective States.
Judge Cummins, of Topsfield, was in college with him, grad-
124
SKETCH OF DR. ROYAL A. MERRIAM.
uating in 1806. It would appear that he availed himself of
all the opportunities offered in his day for a medical educa-
tion. The son of a physician in active practice he could
not fail to profit by the association. He studied medicine
at the Dartmouth Medical School, under Dr. Nathan Smith,
the founder of the school, one of the most eminent medical
men of his time. He saw something in a medical way of
the no less distinguished Dr. Reuben D. Mussey, of both of
whom I used to hear him speak. He received from his alma
mater the degree of M. B., in 1811, and that of M. D., in
1820. He became a member of the Mass. Medical Society
in 1832. In Jan., 1812, Dr. Merriam commenced the prac-
tice of medicine in Middleton. While in Middleton he
made friendships that lasted during his life. He had con-
siderable practice there, especially in typhoid fever. In 1813
he returned to Topsfield. His short stay in Middleton is
easily accounted for by the fact that his father was in fail-
ing health, and had been somewhat of an invalid for some
years. He continued here in the practice of his profession
from 1813 to 1823.
Looking for a larger field of action he went to Marble-
head, where he established himself and remained nine years.
The old residents of Marblehead, who remember him, speak
of him in high terms of respect.
Returning to his native town in 1832, he occupied the
house where he ever afterward lived. He loved and was
greatly attached to his native town. When living in other
places he always looked to Topsfield as his home ; and
although he was pleasantly situated in Marblehead, he did
not feel at home there, and when he became settled in
Topsfield, he was most happy in the change. He was fav-
orably received by the people and entered upon a good
practice
This narrative of Dr. Merriam would not be complete
without allusion to his sister, Almira Merriam. She made
their home pleasant and attractive and contributed to his
comfort and enjoyment while she lived. A close friendship
existed between the brother and sister. She was a woman
who was held in the highest esteem for her virtues and
estimable traits of character. She had a cultivated mind, —
AS A PRACTICING PHYSICIAN.
25
was a fine writer and possessed no inconsiderable share of
literary ability as her letters extant will testify. She died
of consumption early in the year 1839.
Dr. Merriam married Adeline, daughter of Nathaniel
Marsh, of Newbuyport, atN., March 12th, 1839. Mrs. Mer-
riam was a most estimable woman, possessing all the traits
of character that go to adorn a life of usefulness and high
endeavor. Of their two sons, Sidney A. (Dart., 1861) died
in 1876, unmarried. Arthur M. is a resident of Manchester,
Mass. A grandson, Arthur, continues the name in the ninth
generation.
Dr. Merriam came upon the stage of action when the
medical delusions and superstitions of the dark ages were
giving place to scientific teaching. Bishop Berkeley’s tar
water, Perkins’ tractors, the jaw bone of a dog for hydro-
phobia, were exploded as specific remedies. Theory was
losing its hold upon medical thought. Observation was
coming to the front as the proper means preliminary to a
rational treatment of disease. The Doctor had had the best
teaching of the day. His library was well supplied with
standard works, such as the writings of Sir Astley Cooper,
Laennec, Abernethy, Brodie, Bichat, Louis, and volumes of
a later date as they were published. The New England
Magazine of Medicine and Surgery, from 1812 to 1828, in
bound volumes, was a part of his library that has been pre-
served. These works have important passages marked,
showing that they were carefully read and studied.
As far as authentic evidence goes, we may conclude that
he was well equipped for the practice of his profession as it
existed in the first half of the present century.
He practiced extensively in Topsfield and in neighboring
towns. In his relations with the sick he brought a scrupu-
lous regard for his professional duties and responsibilities.
In the care and treatment of his patients he carefully inves-
tigated the disease, and formed his opinions deliberately and
with confidence in his conclusions. That confidence was
reciprocated by those who entrusted their bodily interests
to his care; — a general good understanding between physi-
cian and patient was the result.
Surgery was his specialty. He attended the cases of
126
SKETCH OF DR. ROYAL A. MERRTAM.
surgery that usually occur in general practice and performed
the more important operations, as the amputation of limbs
and operations for cataract. He proceeded in an operation
with self-possession, calmly, without apparent excitement or
emotion. Some lookers-on unused to sights in surgery
might have thought him harsh, but without sufficient reason
therefor.
His deportment in the sick room was dignified, calm, and
cheerful. He was kind and sympathetic; — his demeanor
and courtly bearing such as to command respect, and in-
spire confidence in his ministrations. His cheerful manner
and encouraging words raised the spirits of the sick, and
hope took the place of despondency, which is often more
conducive than drugs to the well-being of the patient. The
saying of the wise man might have been applied to him: —
“a merry heart doeth good like a medicine.” The encour-
agement that he gave his patients and the inspiration of
hope, were important aids to carry them through a severe
and protracted sickness. He recognized the fact that hope
acted as a stimulus in restoring the sufferer to health. He
believed in the modern doctrine of the “vis medicatrix na-
turae— the agency of the vital powers to throw off disease
and restore the system to its normal healthful condition.
In this he was in advance of the medical opinion of his time.
He was interested in his patients and felt the responsi-
bility of his position as a medical attendant; — and pos-
sessed, in a high degree, the esteem and confidence of the
families among whom he practiced. His patrons, of whom
some remain, have been wont to speak of him in terms of
respect, and expressive of their appreciation of his medical skill .
He made no lavish use of drugs. The liberal use of
active remedies, that was considered legitimate and indis-
pensable in his early life, was not followed by him, at least in
his later years. And although he did not discountenance a
proper measure of medication as occasion required, he could
carry in his vest pocket all the remedies he deemed suffi-
cient, ordinarily, to prescribe. He remarked to me that he
could meet the ordinary requirements of practice, with four
articles, namely: — Calomel, Antimony, Opium, and Iron or
Peruvian Bark. In the treatment of disease and in the care
PROMINENT IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS.
27
of the sick he exercised sound common sense, which is often
of more practical use than drugs.
An incident of his professional career was the having
medical students, — who read his books, accompanied him in
his rounds, and listened to his observations upon disease, —
thereby acquiring knowledge and training to enter upon the
work of their profession.
Dr. Merriam’s attention was not confined to medicine ex-
clusively. He was interested in public affairs, and active as
a public man, holding offices of trust in the town, and as a
member of associations, industrial, philanthropic, and social.
He was often called to serve the town, probably no citizen
more often, in various trusts. He held the offices of Select-
man, Overseer of the Poor, School Teacher, School Com-
mittee, and Superintendent of Schools, and was selected to
serve on committees in the more important crises of town
affairs.
He was elected twenty-two years a member of the school
committee, and probably always its chairman, excepting
when he served as superintendent. He must have devoted
considerable time and thought to the duties of the office.
All accounts give evidence of his interest in education,
common school, and academic. When the Topsfield Acad-
emy was founded he was a resident of Marblehead. But
he came up from Marblehead and was present at the house
of Jacob Towne, Esq., the evening of the day when the
trustees met to elect a principal of the Institution, and chose
Mr. Vose. And after he returned to reside in the town, a
few years later, he had the Academy much upon his mind.
He entertained the teacher, and sometimes had him as an
inmate of his family.
From the annual reports of the school committee, when
he was a member, doubtless all drawn up by Dr. Merriam,
we learn the history of the schools ; his views on their
proper management, on discipline, absenteeism, truancy,
deportment, the duties of parents in relation to the schools,
as well as his style of writing. Some extracts from the re-
ports will best illustrate his views upon these subjects. It
will be seen that he was not backward to criticize, to observe
and name faults that appeared, and to refer to the failings of
28
SKETCH OF DR. ROYAL A. MERRIAM.
scholars and teachers, as well as to commend their good
points.
Extracts from school report of 1838-9: —
“The committee have endeavored to follow the statute as
nearly as circumstances would allow, by visiting and exercis-
ing such supervision as the law enjoins. In these visits the
majority of the committee have been present at the com-
mencement and close of each school, and once or more,
about the middle of such terms, as were between three and
four months in length, making their visits about once a
month. The Summer Schools, taught by females, gave very
general satisfaction to Parents and Committee, at least no
complaints of dissatisfaction have come to the knowledge of
the Committee. The smaller class of pupils, taught by them,
gave very honorable evidence of having had the industry and
best efforts of their teachers. Improvement was clearly evi-
dent in each, and although there may have been some shades
of difference, yet the Committee will forbear to mark any
distinction: ”
Winter Schools. — The Centre School “was not so fully
attended as in years previous, there being a private Female
School kept in the vicinity, but it was this year sufficiently
large for one Teacher profitably to attend to. This School
was noted for the promptness and accuracy with which they
answered questions in Arithmetic and Geography. The larger
scholars did credit to themselves and Teacher. The Com-
mittee noticed with great pleasure the good order and disci-
pline, which has in some years previous, been a subject of
complaint. There was no marring or injury done to the
buildings, not even a pane of glass broken for the winter.
The common courtesies and civilities of life were observed to
have received attention in this school, which was very agree-
able to the committee, and they think if they were more
generally taught in schools, it would not be time mis-spent.
The improvement in reading and writing was not so conspic-
uous, although some very honorable exceptions should be
made in both of these branches, and as a whole, the com-
mittee had reason to be satisfied with the school.”
The North School “was better sustained, as regards num-
bers, than in former years. Answers were prompt!}7 and
EXTRACTS FROM SCHOOL REPORTS.
29
readily given in the several branches of study, and there
appeared an unusual degree of intelligence and understanding,
in the larger scholars of this school. Some specimens of
composition and elocution were given, which were certainly
not discreditable for first efforts. Arithmetic was the branch
in which the older boys excelled, and Geography and Gram-
mar, the girls. The most noticeable defect in this school
was of voice and distinct enunciation. The order was good.”
“The East School commenced with very flattering pros-
pects. At the first examination the school was unusually
full, 35 in number, comprising a large number of large
scholars, who seemed ardent in the pursuit of knowledge,
but. probably owing to the inexperience of the Teacher,
having never taught before, there was a failure in a perfect
control over the school. Some left for other schools, and
other large scholars left because they did not feel able to
spend more time, and at the last examination the school was
very small, 13 only being present. The committee were
satisfied with the proficiency of those that were present.”
“The South School commenced with good promise, and
was well sustained. The committee had no hesitation in
pronouncing their full and unqualified satisfaction of the
progress of the scholars, in all the various branches which
had been attended to, and gave ample evidence of the indus-
try and faithfulness of the Teacher. The school excelled in
writing, and as a whole, was not surpassed by any other
school in town.”
“The schools, as a whole, have, in the opinion of the com-
mittee, made improvement on former years. More interest
is taken, both by parents and scholars. The attendance has
been better than in years past. The scholars are not so
backward in attending on examination days. The committee
have used their best efforts to manage such attendance, by
treating them with more familiarity, and in a friendly manner,
and are very happy to be able to say, that their efforts have
been successful.”
From Report of 1842-3 : —
“Sept. 20. — Visited Centre School — 40 scholars. The
school had advanced somewhat on former visitations, but was
not what it ought to have been. There was too much evidence
130
SKETCH OF DR. ROYAL A. MERRIAM.
that good order had not been maintained. There was a
want of books, partly from neglect, not having them at
school, and partly from deficiency. The reading was bad,
spelling not good ; writing bad from carelessness and a want
of fitness of the copies given them by the teacher ; arith-
metic not good ; geography and history pretty good. One
of the largest girls in school was idle and disobedient, not
heeding the orders of the teacher. The teacher appeared to
have given her best efforts to the work of teaching, but her
disposition was too amiable and indulgent, to enforce order
and obedience.”
North School, Winter Term : —
“This school was found in a healthy condition, the atten-
tion and order were good, the interest between the teachers
and scholars reciprocal. There was no appearance of special
lessons given and conned for the occasion, but the scholars
were questioned promiscuously, by the teacher, in the ground
they had passed over during the term. Two of the largest
boys were an honor to the school, did themselves, the school
and teacher, great credit, and if they continue to ‘go ahead’
as they requested in the examination, they will make orna-
ments in society.”
East School, Winter Term : —
The teacher “had given very general satisfaction ; the order
and attention was very good. The school had not that
lively and energetic aspect that is desirable, did not enunciate
distinctly; there was a want of boldness in speaking; many
answers, though probably correct, were not distinctly heard
by the committee. The teacher, though a very estimable
man, is not quite so ready in communication with his scholars
as is desirable for an apt and successful teacher.”
South School, Summer Term: —
“Sept. 23. — Visited South School for the last time. 38
scholars. From the previous visits which we had made to
this school, we anticipated a good deal of pleasure, and we
were not disappointed. On entering the room, at this visit,
the air of the whole school breathed forth the evidence of
obedience, industry and reciprocal love between the teacher
and scholars. A larger number were present than we had
seen before, which was of itself evidence that they were not
EXTRACTS FROM SCHOOL REPORTS.
13 I
afraid of the committee, but were willing to exhibit the re-
sults of their labors. There was a better understanding of
studies which they had passed over than we are accustomed
to see in such young children. They had not been allowed
to pass over a lesson till they had mastered it, sometimes
they had spent a week on the same lesson. It is difficult to
particularize where all the branches are learnt so well. It is
not usual to see writing books kept so free from blots and
marks, and so much effort to follow the copy, as was exhib-
ited by their manuscripts. In such a school, where all was
so well, it is unpleasant to mark any defects, and we only
say that they would have appeared better still, if they had
raised their voices; we could not distinctly hear all the an-
swers to questions.”
“The committee have been instrumental, during the past
year, of introducing into the Centre, North and East Districts,
the School Library, published under the sanction of the
Board of Education. These books have furnished a very
profitable source of instruction and entertainment, to both
parents and children. Although these libraries were fur-
nished by private subscription, yet they are open to the whole
district, and have given very general satisfaction, and we can-
not but hope that the South district, which is the only one
unprovided, will yet be induced to follow the example, by
furnishing themselves with this library, or some other. Books
adapted to the understanding of the young furnish profitable
subjects for conversation and reflection, afford pure and
chaste language for the expression of their thoughts, and
would serve to elevate, their minds above the disorganizing
and petty strifes of seeing who should rule in school, the
master or scholars. The mind of man and child is so consti-
tuted, is of such a nature, that it is constantly drinking in
and appropriating to its use, either for good or evil, whatever
conies within its reach. Surround it with good principles,
nourish it with wholesome, with moral and scientific food,
and it will exhibit the products of such nourishment. But
feed it with low and debasing thoughts, schemes and plans,
and the legitimate fruit of such food will certainly show itself
in the conduct and character of the future life.”
Report of 1852-3 : —
132
SKETCH OF DR. ROYAL A. MERRIAM.
“We have seen a disposition among some of the scholars,
to pursue those branches of science, which are far beyond
their capacity, and not the most profitable for future use in
their business lives. Ornamental branches are sometimes
pursued before the more substantial and useful are thoroughly
understood. Without a thorough knowledge of a subject we
cannot practice upon and use it with safety, either to our-
selves or those with whom we have intercourse. The foun-
dation of a building should be deeply and securely laid before
we attempt to raise thereon a superstructure, and especially
before we undertake the ornamental parts of the structure.
We should learn to read, write and cipher, before we under-
take to declaim, paint or make astronomical calculations.
Reading is of the first importance ; indeed, we have but
very few good readers among us; readers who do not beg to
be excused when called upon to read before strangers.
Reading and spelling should be attended to every day, from
the time the scholar enters school, till he leaves, until he can
bring his manner and modulation of voice to be so much like
extemporaneous speaking, or talking, that a person in the
next room, or out of sight, would not know but that he was
talking.
Servile imitation of others, however excellent, should be
carefully avoided, by the young learner. The copy will
never be so good as the original ; it will usually appear con-
strained and unnatural, and of course be discovered.
Reading or speaking, pruned of all eccentricities by the
observance of such general rules as will be found in most of
the school books, should be after one’s own manner ; he should
personate himself instead of any other person, however cele-
brated. When reading is brought to this perfection it will
be listened to, and being better understood, will make a
deeper impression. Why do we remember everything that
is related to us, and forget so much that is read to us, if it
be not owing to the natural manner of the relator, and the
constrained manner of the reader, which diverts our atten-
tion, or at least fails to fix it?”
“The subject of irregular attendance has been so often
presented to your notice, that you may think it a matter of
supererogation to bring the subject up again at this time ;
EXTRACTS FROM SCHOOL REPORTS.
133
but we think it of such magnitude that we venture to bring
it before you once more. It appears by the returns, that of
those scholars whose names are on the register, but about
three-fifths, or two-thirds, is the average attendance. There
are some other children in the town who do not attend at all,
and whose names are not registered at all, so that not far
from one-half the whole school privilege is lost entirely. If
we estimate the value of school-privilege at one dollar, or
one-half, or even one-quarter, per day, for a child, the whole
loss in the Commonwealth would amount to an immense
sum. And who of us would part, if we could, with what we
could learn in one day’s diligent study? Although we should,
any of us, be unwilling to part with any portion of our
knowledge, yet I believe those who are ignorant actually set
a higher value upon learning, than those who are learned.
We heard one gentleman, in his after life, and who had been
limited in the opportunities for learning, in his younger life,
and who had acquired a sufficiency of this world’s goods,
make the remark that he should be very glad to refund one
thousand dollars for one dollar, which should have been laid
out upon his education in his youth. This puts the question
in a very strong light, but no more so than is just and proper;
learning is invaluable, it cannot be measured by dollars and
cents.”
Report of 1853-4: —
“Scholars learn a great deal from one another, perhaps in
the whole as much as from the teacher; we mean in the less
difficult portions of their studies. The more familiar inter-
course which scholars hold with one another, and the conse-
quent attrition of mind, elicits thought, and serves to bring
into activity the scholar’s own resources, and is therefore of
more real and permanent benefit. One idea which a scholar
gets from his own resources, or works out, with his intercourse
with another, is worth a dozen, which are imperfectly under-
stood, that he gets from a teacher. Knowledge which is
absorbed, or drawn into the mind by the inherent power
within, is more valuable, than that which is forced in by the
aid of foreign assistance. A pupil may obtain knowledge in
this way, but then it is uphill work. To be sure, he may
sometimes meet with obstacles which may require the aid of
134
SKETCH OF DR. ROYAL A. MERRIAM.
a teacher to remove ; these obstacles will grow less and less
as he progresses, and as he gains confidence and learns to
depend more and more upon himself. The most practically
useful men are those who are self-taught; because what
they know there is no mistake about, and they can give us
reason for it, the why and the wherefore. All new discov-
eries are of course from this kind of knowledge, although it
may be based upon previous knowledge obtained from the
schools.
It will be likewise noticed, that in several of the examina-
tions, the school houses were dressed with evergreens. This
is always pleasant to witness. When such attentions are
paid to the occasions of visiting the schools, and when we
see the friends of the scholars present, showing their interest
too, when we see that the school house has not been abused,
we feel that there is good evidence that the time of the
scholars has been given to something of value, that study
has been an object with them, that they have occupied
themselves with things which will be profitable to them in
after life. On the contrary, when we find the building abused,
blinds and glass broken, fences broken down, wantonly; we
cannot but have melancholy forebodings; we tremble for
the future prospects, for some at least, of the members
of that school. School houses ought to be held to be
the most sacred places next to the church. They are our
foster mothers, and are referred to by all our public speak-
ers, with the deepest interest. Let feelings of respect and
reverence for these our Alma Maters, then be inculcated by
parents and teachers. Let the grounds about them be orna-
mented with shade trees and shrubbery, rose bushes and
flowers; let each family or child plant a tree or bush, and
cultivate it. Let the nakedness of the house and grounds be
clothed with ornaments which shall increase the attractions
of the place. If the borders of the grounds only were lined
with forest trees, it would add much to the beauty of the
spot, and take from it that aspect of desolation, which most
of them now present. Would not the scholar, while he was
engaged in such a laudable employment, be at the same time
cultivating the more kindly and refined feelings of his nature?
Would he be so likely even to become a ruffian, and do vio-
EXTRACTS FROM SCHOOL REPORTS.
135
lence to the rules of social and refined life? Would not the
stranger and traveller, as he passed, be moved with emotions
of pleasure? Would not the scholar himself feel a little
proud, when abroad, to be interrogated, whether he belonged
to such a school? All our higher schools, academies, and
seminaries of learning, as well as all public places, have not
failed to make the ornamenting of their grounds a primary
object.”
Report 1854-5 : —
“We would that you were either cold or hot; that you
would either praise or censure our reports; that you would
read and make your comments. We have no doubt but that
the teachers have interest enough to look at them, but
whether the parents do, or not, we do not know, for we hear
little said of them. We have been making reports year after
year, concerning the state and condition of the mental and
moral developments of those young immortals, for whom
you profess to have great anxiety, and which you no doubt
really have, and love too, with all the ardor, which a father’s
or mother’s nature is susceptible, and yet, hardly take the
pains to peruse a short account of a year’s teaching, whether
it be for weal or for woe; although some improvement has
been manifested the past year, by increased attendance on
examinations. We know there is somewhat a sameness in
such reports, quite as much in the external appearance,
however, as anything within. But we have in this report, as
in all others, endeavored to tell the truth, showing neither
favor nor affection. We believe this report is not all honey-
sweetened, nor vinegar-acidulated. If we have not said so
much by way of praise in some parts of the report, it is not
because we should not have been happy to have lauded every
effort for instruction, however feeble; and we think we are
fully authorized to bestow the modicum of praise, not without
discrimination, which will be found in the following report,
which is respectfully submitted.”
“In the several first visits to the schools, we endeavored
to impress upon the teacher and pupils, the vital importance
of understanding the studies which they were pursuing.
That no definition of a word should be taken, which was
not reduced down to the perfect comprehension of the pupil.
136
SKETCH OF DR. ROYAL A. MERRIAM.
A good deal of discouragement is frequently produced
by the pupil’s being obliged to feel his way in the dark,
through a branch of study, which would be much more
readily comprehended, if only the meaning of the terms
were fully explained and understood.”
“We would not be understood to say, that where there is
a particular bias or love of any one course, or branch of
science, we would not have it encouraged and pursued.
Because, we believe, that especially where there is a love of
any one branch, it will be more sure to be learned, and to
be learned the more perfectly, and in a manner which will
be more profitable to the individual and to the community.
We are not of that number that believe that the discipline
of the mind is the principal advantage of schools. There
are a great proportion of the community who get no other
education or knowledge than such as is obtained in our
common schools, and discipline alone would hardly meet
the wants and desires of the public. After the fundamental
branches, or together with those branches, if the teacher
can catch the bent and leaning of the scholar’s mind, that
leaning as has been said, should be followed. Water will
best run in its natural channel.”
Report of 1858-9: —
“The common civilities, the little amenities, of life, should
be more attended to by parents and teacher. Parents should
require of their children on leaving home in the morning
for school some expression respectful of the fact, and the
child should be required, on entering the school room, to
give some token to the teacher of his entrance ; for children
want to know how to leave or enter a room, as well as how
to act or what to say when they get in. And not so little
depend upon those little things as one might suppose, for
first impressions are the deepest and most lasting; it is there-
fore quite important we should make and leave a favorable
impression upon those strangers whose acquaintance we are
making. They are likewise the best passport into good
society and through life, and for our own benefit at least we
had better pass for a little more than a good deal less than
we are worth.
The want of graceful manners not unfrequently keeps in
INTEREST IN AGRICULTURE.
137
the background those who have talents and whose real
o
merits are a loss to the public as well as themselves. Good
manners are never lost.”
Dr. Merriam loved country life and took a deep interest
in the cultivation of the soil. One of the principal reasons
for returning to his native town from Marblehead, was to
enjoy country life and gratify his taste for agricultural pur-
suits. He joined the Essex Agricultural Society in 1821,
and continued his connection with the society to the close
of his life. Part of the time he was a trustee. His interest
in the society never ceased while he lived. He took a
special interest in the culture of fruit, and grew many choice
varieties upon his farm. In making his professional rounds,
in his gig or on horseback, he greatly enjoyed the rural
scenery, the cultivated fields, the growing crops, and seeing
the rewards of the thrifty husbandman in the harvest.
He favored agricultural instruction in the common schools.
In the school report of Apr., 1 862, he writes, — “Agriculture
is truly a branch about which every one should know some-
thing; for every merchant, mechanic, or professional man,
sometime in his life, is called to cultivate the farm or the
garden. As this is a branch of business upon which all
others depend and upon which we must all fall back, it is
quite important we should know something about it.”
The cause of Temperance received his early and earnest
attention and support. He early became convinced of the
injurious effects of alcohol as a beverage, upon the human
system. It was a common saying with him that every glass
of liquor a man drank, shortened his life some seconds. In
public meetings, on social occasions, and in private conver-
sation he gave his influence and ready advocacy of total
abstinence from intoxicating drinks. He made very little
use of it as a medicine in his practice. In his views and
practice, in regard to the medicinal use of alcohol, he was in
advance of his contemporaries.
One station that Dr. Merriam was called upon to occupy,
remains to be mentioned — that of a magistrate. The
friends of law and order were not obliged to go out of town
in Judge Merriam’s day to get justice administered. That
object could be realized within our own precincts.
138
SKETCH OF DR. ROYAL A. MERRIAM.
Back in the 50’s, the condition of society was such as to
call for the organization of a vigilance committee. The
community was afflicted to an unusual degree with the evils
attending the excessive use of intoxicating drink; in the
language of the time, drunkenness, idleness, misspending of
time, not providing for the support of the family, and dis-
turbing the peace.
The prominent citizens of the village were largely inter-
ested in efforts to suppress the extensive dissipation, and to
improve the morals of the town. It is improbable that Dr.
Merriam took a partisan view of the situation, but he was
deeply interested, especially in the reform of the victims of
intoxicating drink, and brought his influence to bear upon
the side of total abstinence, as has been before noticed.
Charges of drunkenness, and its attendant evils of idleness,
not providing, disturbing the peace, vagrancy, and the like,
were most frequently brought before him — but accusations of
theft, obtaining money under false pretences, and breaking
and entering, he was likewise called upon to consider. Of
course , the higher crimes that were beyond the jurisdiction
of his court were sent up to the Court of Common Pleas.
It would appear that the crime of stealing, then as now,
was not always looked upon as very heinous. A case where
the prisoner was accused of stealing two turkeys, of the
value of two dollars, the sentence imposed was a fine of one
dollar, and costs of prosecution.
In another more aggravated case of stealing, the sentence
was the House of Correction for three months.
For drunkenness and for being a common drunkard, not
providing, et cetera , some cases got three months in the
House of Correction, while others were let off with a much
lighter sentence.
In a case where the charge was being drunk and intoxi-
cated by the voluntary and excessive use of intoxicating
liquors ; that the accused was a common drunkard and on
divers days and times within six months, was drunk and in-
toxicated ; that he neglected his calling, misspent what he
earned, and did not provide for his family ; he was convicted
and sentenced to the House of Correction for three months.
It is further recorded in the case that the “mittimus was.
AS A MAGISTRATE.
139
suspended on the respondent signing the abstinence pledge
and paying a part of the costs of prosecution.”
In another case where the charge was excessive drinking,
idleness, misspending time, not providing, and so on, the
accused promised better conduct, signed the temperance
pledge and paid the costs, and was discharged and proceed-
ings quashed.
Another case of drunkenness, idleness, disturbing the
peace, etc., was nol pros, by the accused paying the costs and
signing the pledge.
Another, for a simple drunk, nol pros, by paying part of
the costs and signing the pledge.
A case where the accused pleaded guilty ; penalty, — costs
and pledge.
Another class of cases noted in the “Court Record,” was
where the accused was adjudged not guilty and discharged.
A case where a warrant was for an arrest for drunkenness,
the constable made return that the respondent was not to be
found in his precinct.
A writ for the same individual issued three months after-
ward, was returned with the indorsement that the respondent
was non est inventus.
As the work of the vigilance committee was carried on in
secret, and its members in a measure if not absolutely
pledged to secrecy, it would seem that their proceedings
occasionally leaked out in some way and came to the knowl-
edge of the suspect, giving him a chance to escape.
The entries in Dr. Merriam’s “Court Record,” show that
he exercised judgment, discrimination, and common sense,
as well as regarded the requirements of law, in his dealings
as a magistrate.
While some of his decisions are to be commended by the
most stubborn advocates of the forms of law, it is apparent
that he was lenient in his treatment of many delinquents,
who were brought before him. If the victim of the abuse
of alcohol was not treated as harshly as might have been
expected, it would not be unjust in the magistrate, but cred-
itable for him, to take into consideration the frailties of hu-
man nature, when subjected to the temptation of the intoxi-
cating cup ; the deprivation by his impoverished family of
SKETCH OF DR. ROYAL A. MERRIAM.
140
the little that he might furnish towards their support; the
culpability of those who placed temptations in his path, more
guilty than the culprit himself, and the blame lying upon
the community for not removing the cause of his dissipa-
tion out of the way.
The inconsistence and incongruity of condemning a man
for being influenced by causes beyond his control, and for
yielding to temptations thrust in his pathway, could not but
appeal to the magistrate’s common sense and sense of justice.
It must be admitted that Dr. Merriam administered justice
honestly, in accordance with law, and with due regard to
the extenuating circumstances of the cause on trial.
If he was not a severe judge, the community had the satis-
faction of feeling that no innocent person was called to
suffer unjustly.
Dr. Merriam was too far advanced in life to take an ac-
tive part in the war of the great Rebellion. But, as I
remember, in a public assembly called to consider the sub-
ject of enlistments, he offered to attend gratuitously, and
did so do, the families of those who were about to enlist.
He sent his son into the field to help fight the battles of
his country.
For many years he was the most prominent citizen of the
place. At public meetings held to discuss important ques-
tions, he was called upon to preside, as well as to preside
on occasions in other towns, as County Temperance Con-
ventions. It was the custom to turn to him to head peti-
tions and take the lead in movements looking to the benefit
of his fellow-townsmen.
Dr. Merriam made no pretensions to the role of a public
speaker, but was ready to express his views and opinions in
plain language. I do not know that he ever applied himself
to deliver a lecture, to write an essay, or to make a set
speech. But on a festive occasion, where the ladies bore a
leading part, the observance of the Fourth of July, and the
celebration of the completion of the vestry of the Congre-
gational Church, Dr. Merriam left minutes of extended re-
marks to be made on that occasion, on “The happy influ-
ence which woman exerts on society.” The tone of the
speech is highly eulogistic of the sex.
AS A PUBLIC SPEAKER.
141
A copy of the paper follows : —
“In occupying the few minutes allotted to us on this fes-
tive occasion I design to offer a few remarks on the happy
influence which woman exerts on society.
It has been our very agreeable province through life to
be much in her society. We have seen her in very many
different phases and occasions, and have seldom found her
failing to support her character for sympathy, aid, and
charity, which the world has always granted her, and which
the various emergencies have called forth. Her heart and
hand are always open to the demands and necessities of
human wants and human sufferings. Her hand is seen in
every good word and work. And her power and influence
is almost unlimited ; she can and does accomplish great and
wonderful things.
We need not go beyond our own country or our own
times for examples of her energies, and the support she has
given to important enterprises.
The heroes and patriots of the revolution are sung on
every 4th of July, but did not the heroines and women of
the times bear a full share of the burdens and sufferings,
which were endured, most cheerfully and hopefully, during
those most anxious and distressing days? Did they not
part with their husbands, fathers, brothers, and friends, to
do battle in the strife for independence and liberty? and did
they not sometimes do it themselves? Who will undertake
to say how great a part they had in the matter, or whether
our Independence would have been achieved at all, without
their encouragement and patience, so important for the
emergency? and what does not every good cause owe to
woman ?
What has she not done for the Temperance cause, and
what for the cause of religion in all ages and at all times?
On these subjects you, Mr. President, need no illustration.
But to bring the subject still nearer home, the ladies of
our own town have done themselves immortal honor, and
the town immortal credit by the various enterprises which
they have undertaken and accomplished in the present
passing times. Whenever and wherever we go abroad, we
hear inquiries after the ‘Topsfield Ladies Reading Society.’
142
SKETCH OF DR. ROYAL A. MERRIAM.
Other ladies wish to take pattern for forming similar socie-
ties, or remodeling old ones, and particular inquiries are
made after the reading department, the selection of books
and the mode of using them, how supported and maintained,
etc., etc., giving us evidence of the impression they have
made abroad, approving and applauding their taste and spirit.
In the present movement, having a double object in view,
viz., the observance of our National birthday and the erec-
tion of a Social Hall or Vestry for the convenience and ac-
commodation of the place, for all ordinary occasions of
meeting together, they are making yet another demonstra-
tion of their unfailing resources. We probably should not
have had a Vestry for the present, had not the Ladies given
the work a propelling impulse, by devoting a very liberal
portion of their collections to this end.
This too, without lessening their appropriations for books,
of which they have some 200 volumes, and for various char-
itable purposes. And their charities are not few, if we may
judge from the frequent inquiries made of us for objects
needing aid. Their footsteps are not always seen by the
public, when on errands of mercy, they do not sound a
trumpet before them, or publish to the world their goings
out or coming in, yet grateful hearts will sometimes reveal
their doings. Can it be otherwise than that such examples
should have a happy influence on society and the rising
generation ?
Ought we not, then, to encourage the laudable under-
takings of our friends, by responding to their calls, with all
the assistance which it is in our power to render, and to
second their movements in every other operation got up for
such worthy objects?
And who grudges the small contribution levied upon his
pocket, when so many of his senses are gratified and enter-
tained? Not the appetite alone is glutted with sweets, but
the eye, the ear, the intellect, and the whole soul are all
regaled with pleasant and happy impressions, which will not
soon, we trust, be obliterated from the record which memory
keeps, not till benevolence and virtue cease to charm, till
suffering humanity shall have no need of female sympathy,
or till time with us shall be no more.
SOCIAL HABITS AND MANNERS.
143
Then give to the ladies of Topsfield their just due, Virtue,
Benevolence, and Intelligence.”
He was eminently social in his nature. No one more than
he enjoyed, even in his later years, social gatherings, and the
society of young people, for whose benefit so much of his life
had been devoted. They received a cordial welcome to his
home, where they met on many happy occasions.
A short poem has been preserved among his papers, that
illustrates the social side of his character. It was probably
written and sent by a lady admirer.
From his agreeable companionship, his robust and stately
form, and engaging manners, we can easily see that he was a
favorite in society.
When we consider that he did not marry until he was 52
years old, and was wont to say that he “would if he could,”
some allusions and expressions in the facetious production,
will be readily understood and appreciated.
TO DR. MERRIAM.
What, Doct., still solus ? no wife in the chase?
Still afraid of that soul chilling “No”?
Poor faint-hearted soul ! how I pity your case,
More timid the older you grow.
Here are blue eyes, and black eyes, the fair and brunette.
The grave, the coquette and the prude,
From dignified Lydia to learned Miss Bet.
“I know it, I would if I could.”
See Lucia, sweet model of feminine grace,
How can you behold her unmoved?
A temper more sweet, or a lovelier face
Might be worshiped, but could not be loved.
Will sighing and wishing ere bring to your arms
A damsel more charming and good?
Not a single endeavor for so many charms?
“Don’t tease me, I would if I could.”
44
SKETCH OF DR. ROYAL A. MERRIAM.
On Lucy Ann’s eye could an anchorite gaze
Nor kindle amain at the view?
With calmness to gaze on so witching a face,
Was reserved for one senseless as you.
The rose and the lily blend on Margaret’s cheek
Her lips how with nectar imbued !
You monster of dullness, Oh ! why don’t you speak?
“Why hang ye ! I would if I could.”
Have Lydia’s attractions no longer a charm?
Or what can have rendered them less?
Can sweetness so touching and goodness so warm
Excite not a wish to possess?
Your sense of her merit you have after avowed,
I protest you deserve a rattan,
Go whine like a schoolboy, “I would if I could,”
“In six months I will if I can.”
# * * * *
Sometime before commencement in 1858, the Hon. George
Grennell of Greenfield, his classmate before mentioned, wrote
him asking what he thought of a class reunion on the 50th
anniversary of their graduation. The proposition was favor-
ably considered. It was arranged that Dr. Merriam go to
Hanover by way of Greenfield, both going on from the lat-
ter place in company with each other. He did so. He
received a cordial and hospitable reception from his class-
mate. The facilities for travel were not so extensive as now,
so that it could not be expected that there would be a large
representation of the surviving members of the class assem-
bled. The occasion brought together only three to celebrate
their semi-centennial, Dr. Merriam, Mr. Grennell and, I
think, Judge Spaulding of Vermont.
The friendly and hospitable entertainment at Greenfield,
the meeting of the trio on the scenes of their college life
where they called up the events of their student days, and
THE CLOSE OF A WELL SPENT LIFE.
145
talked over the experiences of the half century, the com-
mencement dinner where the graduates gathered for their
annual festival, and where Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes and
the Hon. John P. Hale were present as invited guests and
made felicitous speeches, made an occasion of much enjoy-
ment and a delightful episode of his declining years.
The professional and friendly relations of the writer with
Dr. Merriam during his last seven years, gave opportunity to
learn much of him in the different relations of life ; to witness
the high moral tone of his discourse, his genial and hospita-
ble nature, his interest for the well-being of the community,
and the prosperity of the town.
Dr. Merriam was a regular attendant upon the Sunday
services of the Congregational Church, and held to the
essential doctrines there taught. He was not a member of
the church organization. His religion was exhibited in his
daily life, and in believing and following the plain teachings
of the New Testament.
Concerning his religious views I quote from a letter written
after his decease by Mr. Grennell : — “I believe he expressed
a sentiment familiar to his heart, in some of the last moments
of his life, that ‘he could trust in Christ as the Redeemer of
his soul.’ His letters to me expressed sentiments in accord
with the above.”
The evening of his days was passed in the enjoyment of
home and village life, interesting himself in the state of the
country then in the throes of rebellion, exercising the rights
and privileges of citizenship, attending public worship, en-
joying the society of friends, having the respect of the com-
munity, friendly to all, happy in his domestic relations,
possessed of a competence, he came to the period when the
healing art failed to prolong life, or prevent the inroads of
disease, and passed away, with angina pectoris, Nov. 13th,
1864, at the age of 78 years and g\ months, bringing to a
close a life well spent.
THE MEETING HOUSE ON THE COMMON.
Town votes relating to the first Meeting House located
on “the common.”
Jan. 14, 1 700-1. New meetinghouse placed on the plain
by Mr. Capens ; agreed to build new meeting house 2 & forty
foot wide & 4 & forty foot long.
Jan. 20, 1 701-2. It was agreed upon yt ye pulpit shall be
placed on ye north side of ye new Meeting house, & ye
Town did agree yt ye seats shall be placed after ye manner
as they be placed in Rowley meeting house, & ye five seats
before ye Pulpit is to be sixteen foot long & Mr. Capens
Pue is to be placed next the Pulpit stairs.
June 8, 1702. Agreed that ye new meeting house should
be set upon ye hill that is to be leveled for that end which
is on the plain by Mr. Capens.
July 31, 1702. The four front seats shall be Made about
twelve foot long.
Oct. 5, 1703. Agreed that the new meeting house should
be seated after the manner as Ipswich new meeting house,
leaving no room for Puese except Mrs. Capens Pue.
Granted liberty to people of the Town to set Stables for
their horses on the back side of ye new meeting house,
provided they set them as near the Swamp as they can.
Nov. 5, 1703. Chose Dea. Sami. Howlet, Leiut. Thomas
Baker, Leiut. Tobijah Perkins, Sargt. Daniel Redington &
Corpl. Joseph Towne, a Commitee to seat the people.
Mr. Tillton should take down the pulpit.
The Town agreed to Adjorn the meeting down to the new
meeting house. The Town agreed to pass acts in the new
meeting house.
The Town agreed that the vacant room on both sides of
(146)
THE MEETING HOUSE ON THE COMMON.
147
ye Pulpit should be for Puese, & agreed that Mr. Baker
should have liberty to set up a Pue behind Mrs. Capens Pue,
& agreed that Mr. Bradstreet, Leiut. Perkins & Mr. Isaac
Peabody have liberty to set up three Pues on the west side
of the Pulpit, the town reserving all rights.
Dec. 3, 1703, The Town granted liberty for Pues to be set
up each end of the Pulpit. Mr. Bakers Pue for his wife &
family, behind Mrs. Capens: & Mr. Bradstreet to set with
wife & Leiut. Perkins next Mrs. Bradstreets for himself &
wife.
Dec. 28, 1703. Committee reported on seating people, not
accepted. Instructions agreed upon ; first men from 60 years
& upward to be respected for their age before money in
younger men; 2d the meeting house rate in 1702 & the
County rate in 1703 to be the rule to seat the rest of the
people by, & Sargt. John Gould, Corpl. Jacob Towne &
Ebenezer Averell are added to the former Committee.
Dec. 8, 1704. Liberty is granted to Joseph Andrews to get
the Pue finished, in the N. W. corner he paying for making
said Pue, & have liberty to improve it so long as he is a
constant hearer of ye word of God with us, & doth yearly
pay two shillings as he hath promised, yearly towards Mr.
Capens Salery, & when said Andrews doth leave Town the
Pue may be disposed of by the Town.
Mar. 6, 1704-5. Liberty is granted to Abraham Howe,
Jacob, Daniel & Caleb Foster to set up stables.
Nov. 21, 1705. Allowed Mr. Capen one shilling & six
pence, for varnishing the pulpit.
148
ADVERTISEMENT.
To be Sold at Publick Vendue on thursday, the 22nd Day
of Novn,b- Instant, at one of the Clock after Noon, by me the
Subscriber, at the house of LiL Daniel C[l]arks, Inholder,
in Topsficld, a State Note that amounts to Twenty-one
pounds one shilling: to the highest Bidder, in Silver money,
in order to Discharge the State tax of David Balch, Junr ’ that
is to be Paid in hard money, as it stands in my List for the
year 1780: the above Note was Given in Decmbl 1 777: and
is payable in March, 1782:
Dated, Topsfield Novm- 20 : 1781.
Daniel Bixby, Constable.
\_Bixby Papers .]
HOTEL FOR SALE.
The subscriber, wishing to retire from her present active
employment, offers for sale the TOPSFIELD HOTEL, with
all its appendages. The spacious and well constructed build-
ings, consisting of House, Stable, Sheds, Wash-house, Wood-
house, Hay-scales, & c, &c., are all well built, of the best ma-
terials, and are now in excellent repair. Besides a good
Well of water, there is a Lead Aqueduct, which supplies the
House and Stable with water from a never-failing spring.
Topsfield Hotel is situated on an eminence that overlooks
the village, and commands an extensive view of the sur-
rounding scenery, which is uncommonly beautiful. It has
for many years been a favorite summer retreat. Any person
wishing to occupy such a stand, will rarely find one com-
bining so many advantages. Seven regular Stage coaches
stop at the Hotel every week day and the private travel has
been constantly increasing. A good title and immediate
possession will be given, and the terms of payment be made
to suit the purchaser.
Susan Cummings.
For further information apply to SOLOMON WlLDES, Esq.,
Boston, or to Mrs. CUMMINGS, now at the Hotel.
Topsfield, May 28, 1835. \_Salem Gazette. ]
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